‘Special Correspondents’ Continues Ricky Gervais’ Unabated Decline

Success can be a tricky thing for a comedian to handle. For some, success is just another part of a continuing evolution their craft, never diminishing the qualities that led to fame and fortune. For others, it winds up robbing them of their edge and the very underdog aspect that made them widely relatable. Sadly, the career trajectory of Ricky Gervais has fallen into the latter, as the British comedian continues to churn out forgettable comedic fare, leaving his one undisputed masterpiece, The Office, further and further into the past. Once again teaming with Netflix, Gervais returns as writer, producer, director, and star of Special Correspondents, a relentlessly cynical and unfunny movie that can’t seem to do anything right.

As a radio journalist for a New York station, Frank Bonneville (Eric Bana) is on thin ice. His unethical antics to get a scoop have gotten him in hot water with his boss (Kevin Pollack), threating to fire him if he has even the slightest mess up. When a civil war breaks out in Ecuador, Frank along with Finch (Gervais), the station’s meek audio technician, are sent to the front lines to provide exclusive coverage for the station. As we all know in this ever-changing media landscape, local radio stations have the expansive budgets to cover issues that a guaranteed ratings bonanzas like a South American civil war. Of course, this would be easily overlooked as part of the farce had Special Correspondents not attempted to dive into the realm of media satire.

Before the two could board their flights, a distraught Finch accidentally throws away their passports and tickets. In order to save his job, Frank and Finch hid in the upstairs loft a Mexican restaurant owned by a kind and stupid couple (America Ferrera and Raúl Castillo) right across the street from the radio station. From there they do fake reports of this catastrophic civil war, Finch using sound effects for flair as Frank spews his poetic lies. In order to keep ahead of the story, the two then decide to fake their own kidnapping in a truly tasteless and tone deaf scene where Frank and Finch sit in front of a flag in orange jumpsuits, obviously invoking the imagery of the gruesome videos made by the barbarous bastards of ISIS. It’d be one thing if these were characters that are so comically awful we can’t believe what they’re stooping to, but Gervais is such a sentimentalist that demands repeatedly trying to mine these characters for likability and redemption.

News of the kidnapping causes a media frenzy and Finch’s attention-loving wife Elanore (Vera Farmiga) utilizes the media attention to seize her brief moment of fame and fortune. She starts a fake foundation to the pay the ransom and start selling her music, operating on a solely narcissistic level that is intended to skew the media’s obsession with the flavor of the month. As mentioned earlier, Gervais simply doesn’t understand the modern media landscape, so every attempt at a comedic critique of the media is mere flight of fancy. Then again, Gervais can’t even find any of his signature awkward humor in this awkward scenario that it shouldn’t be surprising that his flailing for deeper themes would fall woefully flat.

The dull edges of Special Correspondents are especially apparent when it comes to anything that might come into play later, as if Gervais is committed to taking the most predictable route with each and every aspect. A producer at the radio station, played by Kelly Macdonald, has her eyes set on of the film’s two leads, and from the get-go it’s entirely apparent. Every aspect of this farce is obvious, leaving this limp comedy with nothing to surprise the viewer or keep them even modestly engaged with the asinine fluff.

As both its writer and director, Gervais shows absolutely no feel for pacing, storytelling, joke construction, or shot composition. The opening 30 minutes of Special Correspondents features no memorable gags, and all of the character information handled in that span would’ve taken up 10 minutes in a competent film. Towards the end of the film, where Frank and Finch have to sneak into Ecuador to resolve their farce, there’s an inept montage featuring the two leads driving south – this also occurs way too late in the movie that it feels like afterthought. Of course, they actually get kidnapped which is all neatly resolved with a by-the-numbers action finale.

There’s only one other movie this weekend that fancies itself a comedy and is as aggressively challenging the viewers suspension of disbelief, and that’s the wretched dreck known as Mother’s Day. Nothing can take away the fact that Ricky Gervais has given us that one master work that will stand the test of time in The Office. Since then, Gervais has continually stumbled in trying to replicate the comedic tension that once seemed so natural (and perhaps his revival of the David Brent character in an upcoming movie shows that Gervais has realized he’s running on empty). There’s nothing special about Special Correspondents. It’s a lazy, sloppily constructed film that closer resembles the work of Adam Sandler. It’s long past time for Ricky Gervais to stop talking about how great he is and show us a reason to believe it too. I’ve waited through Extras, The Invention of Lying, Life’s Too Short, and Derek. After Special Correspondents, I’m still waiting.