When it comes to creating great comedy for television, it’s hard to argue against Ricky Gervais’s track record. Extras was brilliant and his legendary British sitcom The Office has inspired an American version, amongst others. Yet it quite hasn’t transferred to film for him so far, as neither his first American starring vehicle Ghost Town nor didn’t his next vehicle The Invention of Lying (which he also co-directed) managed to set the world on fire. Gervais is one of the funniest comedic actors working and yet has not managed to find that breakout hit for him to star in. Cemetery Junction shows that while perhaps he may not have found a good starring vehicle yet, he certainly knows quality film-making.
Sharing directing duties with Stephen Merchant as well as writing the script with him like they did for Lying, Gervais takes a small supporting role in the tale of three teenagers coming of age in England. Freddie (Christian Cooke), Bruce (Tom Hughes) and Snork (Jack Doolan) are teenagers at a turning point in their lives. Freddie has just left working at the factory with his father (Gervais) to sell life insurance under the tutelage of Mike (Matthew Goode) and Mr. Kendrick (Ralph Fiennes). Bruce wanders between working in the factory and bar fights while Snork has an oddness about him that’s endearing to the other two. When Freddie meets an old friend (Felicity Jones), who doubles as Mike’s fiancée, it winds up throwing a bit of a wrench into their lives.
Taking a seemingly American tale and crafting it with a British eloquence, it’s interesting to see Gervais work behind the camera when he isn’t crafting something for himself. Capturing that essence of youth, one can tell that this is much more of a personal film for Gervais than one would think because of how raw and emotional it is. There’s a level of angst, of trying to figure out what path to take, that isn’t manufactured for box office receipts. It’s raw and personal which is why it’s so affecting.
It doesn’t hurt that he has a great group of young actors in the three main parts. Hughes, Doolan and Cooke have a terrific chemistry with one another that radiates throughout the screen. Taking the usual coming of age scenario and giving it a British flavor, this is a film that would sink if it didn’t have a great trio of leads that can play effectively off one another. Gervais is able to pull effective performances out of them to help elevate the material from good to borderline great.
Cemetery Junction is a nice take on the coming of age film and proof that maybe Ricky Gervais has a shot at becoming more in America than the guy behind The Office. There’s a first rate director waiting to come out and this hopefully is a sign of things to come.
Presented in a Dolby Digital surround in a widescreen format, Cemetery Junction has a good but not a great a/v transfer. This is a film that relies more on dialogue than scenery and setting; it gets a lot of the little details of the time period but just doesn’t look as good as it ought to.
Deleted Scenes and a Blooper Reel are standard fare and pretty perfunctory.
The Directors: A Conversation with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant is a 15 minute look at Gervais and Merchant, with the two getting down to the reasons why they made the film. They wanted to do two things with the film: remember back to their own childhoods and take on American film-makers in the coming of age genre. They wanted to take actors with a “rock star” type of sensibility and make them into film stars
The Lads Look Back: The Stars Discuss Cemetery Junction focuses on the three stars of the film and how their friendship during the audition process led to them being cast in the film. There’s a genuine friendship between the three and it’s interesting to hear them discuss it amidst the film.
There are Commentary Tracks from the Directors and from the three stars of the film.
When it comes to picking scripts for himself to star in on the big screen, Ricky Gervais hasn’t had the sort of skill in film that he’s had on television. But he might have a great talent for picking out scripts for others to star in, as Cemetery Junction is a good coming of age film bound to find an audience on DVD.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment presents Cemetery Junction. Written and Directed by Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant. Starring Ricky Gervais, Matthew Goode, Christian Cooke, Felicity Jones, Tom Hughes, Jack Doolan, Emily Watson, Ralph Fiennes. Running time: 94 minutes. Rated R. Released on DVD: August 17, 2010.
