25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliantly biting, uncomfortable and hilarious, July 6, 2004
This review is from: The Office - The Complete First And Second Series (BBC Edition) (DVD)
Set up as a fake documentary/reality tv show, The Office manages to capture humour in a way we've rarely seen before. The branch manager, David Brent, is painfully pathetic in his attempts at being funny to garner popularity. You can just feel the discomfort and awkwardness that everyone around him suffers as a result (as the camera continues to roll following his horrid jokes), and this is part of the show's brilliance - moments that make you cringe and laugh simultaneously.
Each of the main characters are so unique and well executed that there's no sense of dead weight. There are definitely some very poignant moments from time to time, and it's these rare tidbits that make you care about the characters so much. Having found so much to relate to in these stories, these DVDs are hilarious and strangely comforting - I've watched them several times over.
Update: There were two Christmas specials that came out after the conclusion of the second season which wrap up the story quite nicely. They are bundled together with a newer version of this DVD; I would recommend getting that version instead of this one.
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cringeworthy genius, May 15, 2004
This review is from: The Office - The Complete First And Second Series (BBC Edition) (DVD)
Set in the bleak, awfully-named industrial town of Slough and the fictional office of the Wernam-Hogg paper merchants, a BBC film crew documents the expressionless workers, ringing phones, copiers churning out clone after clone after clone, pointless meetings and pointless bureaucracy that exist within typical, uninspiring companies.
Sadly, the majority of people in Britain work in dull, dead-end office jobs with lives that go nowhere and even the most meager of ambitions going unrealized. Maybe if they had a boss like David Brent their day would be livened up. Not because he's the 'boss/entertainer' he thinks he is, but for the morbid curiosity of watching a desperate, delusional and detestable man slowly crash and burn.
The majority of laughs in The Office come from awkward and embarrassing situations. Brent constantly forces his bullheaded and bawdy humor on unwitting staff. At first they appear scared of his ruthlessly imposing presence but towards the end they all ignore him completely. But he never realizes this and resorts to even more tasteless ways of getting attention. He loves the camera and rather than acting `normal' for the purposes of the mockumentary he exaggerates his beastly character to the point of being sickening. He gets what deserves in the end and by this point the audience has lost all sympathy for him.
His brutalized and beleaguered staff struggle to get on with their work as Brent's tyranny escalates. Among them we have Tim, an increasingly unhappy man who wishes to escape the monotony and drudgery `ordinary life' brings him. He's long had the confidence crushed out of him but still has more humanity than anyone else.
Gareth is Tim's worst enemy. A dorky, 95 pound weakling who boasts of being in the (territorial) Army and is keen to assume more and more power from Brent's failing management. Like Brent, he has no clue about social interaction and behaves strangely among potential friends.
Dawn is the receptionist. She is engaged to a controlling, unloving boyfriend who insists she spend her life doing dull work despite the fact that she has higher and happier dreams. She has feelings for Tim, and they are more than mutual. But fear of change and happiness stops her from falling for him.
As soon as once branch of Wernam-Hogg incorporates the other it becomes clear how useless Brent is. The new staff are amazed at how such a horrid man has been employed at all, never mind become a boss. Complaints and unfinished work rise and the upper management are forced to take action. Sadly, Brent just won't learn.
In the end, his staff have the slightest chance at happiness and escape. Brent however doesn't learn from his mistakes and will probably go on to have an endlessly miserable life.
If you work in an office, get out! Among the blackest of humor there is a message; office life is fit for no human being. And Ricky Gervais' dark comedy is filled with thousands of examples of why this is so. It's absolutely classic stuff that is far ahead of dozens of canned laughter sitcoms.
This DVD set features all 12 episodes. The are in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby 2.0 sound. The deleted scenes, outtakes and behind the scenes stuff are, for a change, very funny and interesting.
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32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Wait for the FULL set of shows, April 10, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: The Office - The Complete First And Second Series (BBC Edition) (DVD)
This DVD set only includes the first and second series. They made a further two long episodes for Christmas 2003 that didn't make it to this set. No doubt they'll release a full boxed set sometime down the road and you'll wish you waited.
By the way, the two Christmas episodes were brilliant :)
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