A radio movie for Ricky Gervais fans

Like Woody Allen, you either love him or can’t see what all the fuss is about. Either way, Ricky Gervais is his own genre.

Gervais produces, writes, directs and stars in Special Correspondents, a Netflix original released last month, about a New York based news radio station and its top newshound, Frank Bonneville, played by Australian actor Eric Bana and his sound technician, Ian Finch, played by Ricky Gervais.

In truth, the movie is as much about radio as the hit TV show Frasier – which is a sitcom about the social life of a psychiatrist who just happened to have his own radio show. But while Frasier is high farce driven by its cast of comic characters, Special Correspondents is a satirical commentary on news media and its audiences in modern times.

The plot revolves around the two main characters who are sent to cover an uprising in Ecuador but somehow miss the plane and end up reporting stories that they’ve concocted from a New York apartment across the street from the radio station that thinks they’re in Ecuador.

While Gervais plays the same Ricky Gervais he has always played to great affect, Banner is nigh on brilliant as his co-star.

On Netflix, Special Correspondents gets just three out of five stars and is listed in 33rd place in the “Trending Now” category. But if you’re a Gervais fan, like me, you might rate this movie much higher.

Commenting on the film, Gervais said, ”Even though it would certainly be billed as a comedy, it’s not a big broad loud obvious one… It’s a bit satirical. A bit dramatic. A bit romantic.”

It’s also a bit clever. I give it at least four stars.

Peter Saxon

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