Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

One of my all time favorites.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

With Extras finished Gervais and Merchant wanted to mine the same path. This time Gervais & Merchant play a version of themselves as some sort of comedy producers/agents with Warwick Davis as a showbiz dwarf, rather egoistical and selfish but also fallen on hard times.It is a mockumentary and rather absurdist. Davis is not likable and we think his heart is in the right place although as a talent agent for other dwarfs he takes the best acting parts for himself. Its hard to sympathise for him but easier to cringe although Davis does offer a lot of physical comedy.There is also the sidebar of Gervais and Merchant with his usual team of Les Dennis, Keith Chegwin and Barry from Eastenders who are joined by a star cameo each week such as Liam Neeson popping up wanting more comedy parts which is a throwback to their previous series 'Extras.'Still like Extras there is enough to make it work, the cameos are amusing, Davis is entertaining as he bravely soldiers on and his hapless accountant provides the laughs.The show only lasted one series and was wrapped up in a special one off episode where Val Kilmer turned up as Batman and Davis is softened up slightly and understands the need to be less selfish.

In writing this review, I think it is only fair to remove any influence that successes such as The Office, Extras, The Ricky Gervais Show and An Idiot Abroad may contribute towards it. I find that in doing so, I may avoid the typically predictable droning about it 'being better or worse that his last show'. I find that argument boring and it's narrowing both the potential comparative and the viewers focus when watching.So, with my 'Gervais' hat now removed, here is my review for 'Life's Too Short', the new mock-umentary from Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais.Gervais cited a number of ideas that had influenced the making of this show. With an influx of those awful, 'look at me' celebrity documentary things in which a television crew follows one, or a number of deranged, fame hungry socialites doing nothing other than sleeping with each other and shopping for new Ugg Boots and push-up bras.In Warwick Davies, we have the protagonist, albeit an unlikeable one. Desperate to cling on to fame's back side, he invites a 'film crew' to follow him around, heightening his celebrity status at every opportunity. Much like those awful celebrity docu-soaps, Warwick yearns for all and any publicity, hoping blindly that living his life like an open wound would somehow benefit his career. Only...Warwick is a dwarf actor looking to pay a huge tax bill.He continually annoys Gervais and Merchant, who both play themselves as conduits to Warwick's celebrity life. Warwick seeks their help in finding his way to higher pastures but is continually berated and mocked, mostly for his size. All in all there is an abundance of misfortune in this man's life, and we're party to all of it.As you'd expect, there is an abundance of 'short jokes' in this. The casual observer would possibly assume a level of discrimination in doing this, feeling Warwick is somewhat exploited. But that could not be further from the truth. Although we see Warwick's immense difficulty with his stature, it is his small mindedness that we are most amused by. Where some might think forcing a dwarf down the toilet is immoral and wrong, others look at his reasons for agreeing this - trying in vain to impress Johnny Depp. Where some might see his hilarious scaling of a bookshelf and think it is somewhat derogatory, others might point out his ridiculous pride in saving face so not to give his ex-wife's new partner the upper hand. These moments are aptly portrayed in such a way as to mock only Warwick's personality and not his disability. This is a 'small man' in mind alone. He is petty, vain, desperate, small minded and arrogant. He is a small 'Alan Partridge' with the same delusions of grandeur that made Alan such fun to watch.Most of Life's Too Short is familiar to fans of Gervais. His touch is evidently there, and the overall show is stylistically more similar to The Office as oppose to anything else. The physical comedy is done brilliantly and Warwick has such a commanding grasp on this realm. Yet there is too much missing from the show. The writing is just not funny enough. The incredibly funny parts, such as Liam Neeson's scene are too few and far between. I dare say it, but there is too little of Gervais and Merchant. And once more, Barry, Cheggers and Les Dennis are back to provide the odd laugh inbetween, proving the show needed additional comedy from somewhere. Other than Warwick, nothing stood out. Gone are the level of characters such as Tim, Gareth, Darren Lamb, Barry (who we see too little of), Dawn and the lovable Maggie. Finding incredible characters and creating interesting and brilliant people to play them is what Gervais and Merchant have done brilliantly. Yet there's nothing too special here. It's as though they narrowed their view solely to Warwick and forgot about the outer world he'll exist in.But still, with my Gervais hat still gone, I will review this show on its merits. Ultimately it is very funny in parts. Watching Warwick scale that bookcase had me in tears. Liam Neeson's bit was one of the greatest scenes the guys have written and the whole idea behind the show is still strong. I enjoyed watching Life's Too Short and it was in no way a bad show. The current viewer rating on IMDb is 7.8/10, a little generous for my liking. If I could be more specific, I'd give the show a 7.4/10...or 74/100...or 74%...whatever works.All in all - not too bad, not too great. Just good.

First off, I don't understand why some people are criticising this as being in the same style as The Office and Extras, rehashing old jokes and concepts. So what? Both shows were funny and this is even funnier. What's more, this show is missing the pathos the previous shows had, which reserved some space for us to empathise with some of the characters, and in doing so, slowed the shows down a bit at times. Not a bad thing, by any means, but in Life's Too Short we're offered one great comedy scene after another, with a lovable character who's more than happy to make us laugh at his expense and pulling no punches with the material he's given to work with.The fact that the show guest stars other various celebrities 'playing themselves' (as in Extras), is an aspect that's always welcome to watch. But what's more important of this type of show, is not just the exceptional writing and cringe worthy situations the characters find themselves in, but the facial expressions and comic timing of every character. And when that's done right, as it is here, then I wouldn't mind seeing this kind of comedy rehashed over and over - for some jokes just never get old.

I'm not informed enough to know about the rights and wrongs of this latest Gervais/Merchant offering, for example whether it's politically correct, what I can say though is this, Warwick Davies has proved himself to be a very accomplished comedy actor.He's playing a warped version of himself (similar to the Extras format) or one hopes he is, but he just has that David Brent style ability to get situations badly wrong or say completely the wrong thing. He also has a superb comic face that reacts brilliantly to whatever humiliation or put down comes his way.The main thread is that Warwick is suffering a divorce, a decline in his fame and roles and sadly thanks mainly to his hapless P.A. and cretinous accountant (acting as his lawyer) things are never going to improve.Like Extras there are a number of high profile appearances throughout, though again like extras the best laughs comes from the acting/characters provided by the non-famous roles.Best scene in my opinion is the expertly executed 'washing machine mix-up' which is a simple mix-up that leads to his old washing machine being re-installed, and his shiny new one getting dumped, due in no small part to P.A. Cheryl being helpful but ultimately totally unhelpful, it's straight out of Laurel and Hardy and that's no bad thing.2 series seems to be the Gervais/Merchant standard (go out on a high) and my verdict is for 'Life's too Short' one series really would be too short.