The greatest movie ever made..!

Purely Joyful Movie!

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

If you like Ricky Gervais's standup, or his interviews, then you know how his mind works, and this film beautifully illustrates his dry, situational-comedy genius. Two journalists have to fake a story but in faking it it becomes real. This is the old crying wolf story brought to life and it's brilliantly done. Eric Bana is a revelation and is the perfect foil for Gervais, who never misses an opportunity to play on his "sweaty little fat man" persona. I laughed out loud watching this. It's a brilliant satire on our fake lives in so many ways. The fund raising effort is hysterical and tragic because it's so true. Really good entertainment.

I did not laugh or even chuckle, as I more and more grimly watched this production.I won't bore you with the details, other than to say the plot was predictable once the premise was established, and was never believable. A big surprise, based on the genius of The Office and Extras. Still, when you see what a dud Derek also was, it doesn't take a genius to realize that the missing ingredient is Stephen Merchant. Once he left the collaboration, Gervais's comedic success has nosedived.

There are spikes of comedic moments in this one and watching this I can only imagine how good the original movie must have been. Which I unfortunately haven't seen yet. The concept is pretty neat and it works overall. Bana and Gervais is a good fit, though it's not like you'll be rolling on the floor laughing.Apart from some highlights though, there is a lot of drought too. Which is a shame, because some ideas might sound funny on paper, but didn't translate onto the screen as well. It might be mildly amusing of course and if you don't have high expectations anyway, you will be more than entertained with this

It looks like some filmmakers are making deals with Netflix to dust down those rejected scripts or ideas from yesteryear and reheat them. The result as in Special Correspondents is that it turns out half baked.Eric Bana (Frank Bonneville) plays a cool dude radio news journalist who does whatever it takes to get a story. His boss assigns Bonneville to cover a rebel uprising in Ecuador. We might have to gloss over the fact how a local radio station has the resources to send journalists abroad.Ricky Gervais (Ian Finch) is the sound technician that Bonneville will take with him. Finch has just found out that his wife (Vera Farmiga) wants a divorce as he is leaving town and mistakenly throws their passports and airline tickets away. We also see previously that Bonneville has a one night stand with Farmiga as he does not know who she is married to.The two decide that they will hideout in New York and file news reports using sound effects to make out they are abroad. The trouble is not only do they then make up stories they end up faking their own kidnapping and Finch's wife makes public appearances to raise funds to have them both released even though the kidnappers have made no ransom demands.Gervais wrote and directed this banal film. The trouble is his lo-fi, fly in the wall documentary style of comedy which works on television is not suited for the medium of film. On film you rely on the quality of the story and the script has to be funny. Well the story has more plot holes than Swiss cheese. There is no record of these two leaving the country; they phone the radio station to file the stories which means their mobile phone records would have them located in New York. No journalists in Ecuador have seen them which would raise questions when they are kidnapped.Some of the plot is excruciatingly bad such as when the duo decide to go to Ecuador and end up being abducted in a rough bar somewhere in the jungle as they decide to take drugs and talk to a pretty woman rather than quickly get the hell out of there.The film wants to make cheap points on the shallowness of the American media and how Farmiga raises money and increases her celebrity which is self serving as she plans to keep the money for herself. However given how underwhelming the film is those points get lost.