For years, Ricky Gervais has occupied a position where he comfortably polarises viewers: if haters and critics find his work increasingly basic, that doesn’t matter because his fanbase loudly disagree, seemingly regardless of what he serves up to them. With the almost surreally lazy Alley Cats on Netflix, his first animated comedy, that loyalty is really tested.
He’s back to his roots: cynical Gus (Gervais), uncouth Fang (Andrew Brooke) and their feral friends are street cats, but they’ve found a derelict house with a sofa and a TV where they can banter like a sitcom family. The dialogue, however, is more like the podcasts Gervais diversified into once he was established on TV.
Semi-improvised as an ensemble audio track with the animation added afterwards, the cat chat gives Gus and Fang two targets for their weary mockery. David Earl takes his usual place in the Gervais repertory as a priapic oddball: his character, Puke, boasts about having sex with rats and worms. Getting even more stick is the gang’s domesticated, educated friend Ponce (Tom Basden).
As the group tackle debates including the method by which they’d prefer to die, if there’s a god and whether bees produce enough honey, Ponce’s efforts to lord it over his frenemies never work, because he’s bullied out of every conversation with a torrent of abuse and nonsensical arguments. If you’ve ever wasted time arguing online, you’ll know the dynamic: Person Who Knows Things versus Trolls. Alley Cats jeers along with the trolls.
View Green Video on the source websiteThe podcasty sitcom part of the show is not terrible, albeit reliant on swearing to replace jokes. Netflix’s all-time record for uses of the c-word has surely been smashed. But that’s not the problem. What makes Alley Cats so jarring is the issue that’s dogged Gervais's recent productions: he wants to be a dramatist as well as a comedian, but doesn’t want to do any of the work that traditionally sets up emotional pay-offs. He just goes straight there.
In both Derek (elderly people, and people whose brains are wired differently, are magic – it is sad when people are mean to them!) and After Life (it is sad if your wife dies!), the addiction to patronising homilies was terminal. You might assume a 15-minute cartoon about talking animals would be immune: there’s not much time left after everyone’s finished calling Ponce a "c***". But Gervais just hyper-accelerates his trademark mawkishness. Alley Cats makes his live-action comedy dramas look like Tolstoy.
Not once but twice, a supporting character is introduced purely so they can be killed off again to the sound of sad piano music. It’s as emotionally powerful as it would be if I told you to imagine a cat… in fact, let’s do that now. Imagine there’s a cat. OK? Well, it’s died. Yeah? That cat is dead. Are you sobbing? Great! Ricky Gervais is the writer for you.
You’ll love the two-scene narrative arc about Gus and his estranged mother. The running stories where Gus hides his concern for a stray named Kitten (Jo Hartley) and stalls before committing to romance with obvious soulmate Lara (Kerry Godliman) – because although he tells his mates he doesn’t care about anything, he’s really a softie! – are not much more sophisticated.
Connoisseurs of late-period Gervais will, meanwhile, be listening for clangingly unimaginative needle drops, and they don’t disappoint. Old favourites James Taylor (sad wistfulness) and Cat Stevens (wistful sadness) get a runout, while viewers who have still not fully recovered from the scene in Derek of frail elderly people soundtracked by Radiohead’s Bones will be finished off by the montage of Gus and Lara walking across busy roads, backed by There Is a Light that Never Goes Out by the Smiths.
The mix of raucous crudeness and simplistic sentimentality – one thing the two elements share is that they’re both aggressively, insistently philistine – has become the signature Gervais style, but that doesn’t make Alley Cats any more appetising. In 2D, his writing falls flatter than ever.
Add Alley Cats to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.
Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Hence then, the article about alley cats review this makes other ricky gervais comedy dramas look like tolstoy was published today ( ) and is available on Radio Times ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Alley Cats review: This makes other Ricky Gervais comedy dramas look like Tolstoy )
Also on site :
- This OK Go Music Video Broke the Internet in 2006—Nearly 20 Years Later, That Treadmill Routine Still Stops You in Your Tracks
- Shareholder Alert: Ademi LLP Investigates Claims of Securities Fraud against Honeywell Aerospace Inc.
- Prime Video’s ‘Ride Or Die’ To Be Submitted As Comedy With Stars Hannah Waddingham & Octavia Spencer In Lead Actress Consideration For TV Awards