How big a star is Ricky Gervais? Is he superfamous all the world over, or when you boil it all down to the essence, is he really just a cult comedy star? The Office, the TV series he co-created with Stephen Merchant, is an acknowledged comedy masterpiece, and Extras, while not quite as iconic a show, was clearly a worthy successor. He's hosted awards shows, and co-hosts one of the world's most popular podcasts. But is he a big enough star that people will leave their homes and drive across the city in order to watch him on a movie screen?Frustratingly, the answer so far seems to be no: the lovely romantic comedy Ghost Town underperformed, the fascinating comic experiment The Invention of Lying got divided reviews even among Gervais' fans, and Cemetery Junction, the coming-of-age comedy he co-wrote and co-directed with Stephen Merchant, never even got released to theatres in North America. Is this the latest injustice to be perpetrated on Gervais' movie career, or a fitting fate for a mediocre movie. Well... maybe a little bit of Column A and a little bit of Column B.
At least that's the answer Heather Noel and I arrive at in this week's episode of DVD Afternoon, in which, in addition to Cemetery Junction, we also discuss two colour-coded Criterion releases (Black Orpheus and The Red Shoes), wonder what it would be like to kiss Christopher Walken, and order Miley Cyrus to improve her posture already. You can subscribe to the show through iTunes, or click here for the direct download.
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