Ricky Gervais Movies

Ben Stiller returns as Larry Daley, the unfortunate night watchman who continues to encounter living and breathing museum exhibits in Night at the Museum 2: Escape From the Smithsonian, 20th Century Fox's tent-pole sequel from director Shawn Levy. Scott Frank, Robert Ben Garant, and Thomas Lennon provide the script, with Chris Columbus returning to handle producing duties. Amy Adams (Enchanted) and Hank Azaria join the returning cast of Robin Williams, Ricky Gervais, and Owen Wilson in the 1492 and 21 Laps Entertainment co-production. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

Ricky Gervais, popular British comic and creator of such hit television series' as The Office and Extras, takes the stage for a sold-out performance at the WaMu Theater in Madison Square Gardens. Flirting with political incorrectness as he ponders such pressing social issues as autism, obesity, fund raising, nursery rhymes, and Nazis, Gervais even puts his own manhood in the spotlight by poking fun at his most intimate of areas. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Concert for Diana captures a 2007 tribute to the deceased Diana Spencer, the former Princess of Wales. Among the many performers who appear on the bill are Nelly Furtado, Elton John, Duran Duran, Rod Stewart, and Kanye West. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

A charmingly naïve boy from the English village of Wall travels to a magical, mythical world in search of the falling star that will help him win the heart of his true love in this fantasy adventure starring Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ricky Gervais, and Sienna Miller. For hundreds of years the massive cobblestone barrier that surrounds the sleepy English hamlet of Wall has kept the citizens of the village safe and secure from the malevolent supernatural forces that stir just outside its perimeter. When dashing Tristan Thorne (Cox) promises the fairest girl in the village, Victoria (Miller), that he will prove his love by bestowing her with a genuine falling star, his daring mission sends him on an adventure far outside the comfortable confines of Wall. In order to find the fallen star, Tristan will have to ascend the wall and venture deep into the forbidden heart of the fantastical realm known as Stormhold. Upon discovering that the meteorite he sought was in fact a beautiful girl named Yvaine (Danes), who has stumbled though space and is now being pursued by the King of Stormhold's (Peter O'Toole) sons (who long to use her cosmic powers to lay claim to the throne), Tristan vows to protect the otherworldly visitor at all costs. But the king's sons aren't the only ones in search of the luminous Yvaine; fearsome witch Lamia (Pfeiffer) has become convinced that the young girl's power can help her to achieve eternal youth and beauty. As Tristan makes his way through Stormhold on a mission to bring the star back to Wall, he will encounter a series of spectacular characters and creatures that will lead him to a fate he never imagined. Layer Cake director Matthew Vaughn serves as director and co-screenwriter for this tale of witches and pirates adapted from the novel by fantasy icon Neil Gaiman, who also produces. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The new night watchman at New York's Museum of Natural History finds that the job comes with more responsibility than he ever dreamed in this wild fantasy comedy directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Mickey Rooney, and Dick Van Dyke. Larry Daley (Stiller) is a kind-hearted dreamer who always knew that he was destined for greatness, he just never quite knew how. None of his ideas or inventions has panned out, so with a heavy heart, he takes a regular job as a lowly graveyard-shift security guard at the Museum of Natural History in order to provide a more stable life for himself and his ten-year-old son. His first night on the job, however, he finds that guardianship of the museum is far from stable -- at nightfall, an Egyptian spell brings the artifacts and wax figures to life! With Attila the Hun charging to war through the hallways, the diorama miniatures embroiled in a deadly feud, and a two-ton Tyrannosaurus Rex nagging to play fetch, Larry has half a mind to turn tail and run. On top of cleaning up after two million years of historical chaos every night, he also has to make sure that not a single museum piece leaves the building -- from the bratty Capuchin monkey in the African exhibit, to the life-sized Neanderthal in the prehistoric display -- because if morning light falls on an escaped artifact, it will turn to dust. Larry turns to a wax replica of President Roosevelt (Williams) for a little advice on keeping things in tact, but Teddy seems to think that a man of Larry's greatness needs little help. Larry isn't sure if the former commander in chief is right; this is hardly what he signed up for, but he can't pass up the chance to care for a museum where history really does come to life. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Andy (Ricky Gervais) is an extra in a period film that stars Ross Kemp from EastEnders. His efforts to get more camera time, let alone a line, seem to be fruitless, as usual. "Cut it before the fat bloke gets his face in the shot," is typical of the things one hears on one of his sets. Andy takes some razzing from fellow struggling actor Greg (Shaun Pye), who is working on a film with Vinnie Jones (Snatch) on the same lot. Greg, much to Andy's chagrin, has a line. Andy attempts to talk to Kemp about getting a line in the TV program they're shooting, but Kemp seems obsessed with talking about what a "hard man" he is, claiming to have been in the SAS (though he doesn't seem to know what the acronym stands for). "You best not get into a fight with me," he warns Andy. "Sure, Andy mutters to himself, "or a conversation." When Kemp finds out that Jones is shooting a film across the way, he's disgusted, and dismisses Jones as "a bloody footballer," disparaging his acting talent and his presumed toughness. Later Andy bickers with Greg again, and relays Kemp's comments, inadvertently bringing on a showdown between the two stars. Andy also visits his inept agent (Stephen Merchant), and learns that he also represents Shaun Williamson, also formerly of EastEnders, who is now doing odd jobs. Meanwhile, Maggie (Ashley Jensen) engages in her usual pursuit of on-set romance, this time with Mark (Raymond Coulthard), though she's a bit intimidated by his apparent intellect, explaining that he "reads the big papers." ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, creators of the worldwide BBC hit The Office, return with this dry comedy about a pair of down-on-their-luck movie extras. Gervais stars as Andy Millman, an actor whose ambitions hardly live up to his day-to-day life as a background player. Wry and resigned, Andy attempts to procure higher-profile film gigs by doggedly pursuing his clueless agent (portrayed by Merchant) and befriending the celebrities he meets on set. Ashley Jensen rounds out the cast as Maggie Jacobs, Andy's best friend and fellow extra, whose political incorrectness flies in the face of her good intentions. Each half-hour episode of Extras features at least one big-name actor playing a humorous variation on his or her real self, from Ben Stiller, who bullies his cast and crew while directing a film about armed conflict in the Balkans, to Kate Winslet, who hopes to nab an Oscar by playing a nun on the run from the Nazis. After premiering July 21, 2005, on the BBC, Extras began its American run on the HBO premium cable network. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

This episode of Extras, the first aired on HBO, opens on the set of a WWII melodrama. Kate Winslet stars as a saintly nun protecting a group of Jews, among them Maggie (Ashley Jensen), while Andy (Ricky Gervais) plays a Nazi soldier. Suzanne (Charlotte Palmer), another extra, mentions to Andy that he looks "quite dapper" in his uniform, to which he responds, "You should see me with a white sheet over my head setting fire to a cross." In response to Maggie's concerns about "all these people walking around pretending to be nuns," Andy professes his own atheism. Maggie's on-set romance with prop guy Mike (John Kirk), meanwhile, is challenged by his propensity for phone sex, which leaves Maggie at a loss, as she embarrassedly confesses to Andy. Winslet overhears their conversation and interjects, suggesting Maggie start out with something "light" like, "I'd love it if you stuck your Willy Wonka between my Oompa-Loompas." Winslet later tells the startled extras that she's doing this film, not to "keep the message alive about the Holocaust," as Andy suggests, but because doing a film about the Holocaust virtually guarantees her an Oscar. Suzanne's sister, Fran (Francesca Martinez), who has cerebral palsy, visits the set, and when Fran asks Andy, who is smitten with Suzanne, about his religious beliefs, he claims to be a Catholic, which gets him into a spot when Suzanne invites him to a "get-together with some friends" that turns out to be a religious meeting. Andy also has a pointless meeting with his agent (Stephen Merchant), who lets him know that "nothing's come in." ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Andy's (Ricky Gervais) incompetent agent (Stephen Merchant) seems to think the reason Andy's not getting any offers is his shape. "If you insist on remaining a blob, could you at least get a tan?" he helpfully suggests. He does land Andy a role as a gay genie in a doomed stage production of Aladdin, starring down-on-his-luck British television comedian Les Dennis (the former host of Family Fortunes, the British version of Family Feud). Les introduces Andy to his pretty young blonde fiancée, Simone (Nicky Ladanowski). Later, he tells Andy, "It's about time I had a bit of luck," laments having reached the point where he has to share a dressing room with Andy, and confesses that he considered suicide during his recent stint on Celebrity Big Brother. During rehearsals, Andy spies Simone backstage making out with a stagehand, and on opening night, when Les tells Andy he's decided to break up with her, Andy ill-advisedly mentions what he's seen. When Maggie (Ashley Jensen) drops in for a visit, she recognizes an old schoolmate in the production. Lizzie (Rebecca Gethings) turns out to be the daughter of the musical's foppish choreographer/director, Bunny (Gerard Kelly), who proves to be an exacting and overbearing stage parent. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

The American TV version of the award-winning British sitcom The Office opens by establishing its faux documentary format, as Michael Scott (Steve Carell), regional manager of a branch office of Dunder-Mifflin Paper, jumps through hoops to convince the filmmakers that he presides over a happy, well-running ship. This is but one of Michael's many pathetic self-delusions: he also thinks he's the epitome of "cool," he's convinced that everything he says is a laugh riot, and even worse, he actually labors under the misapprehension that he is qualified for his job. Meanwhile, Dunder Mifflin's employees inadvertently but efficiently put the lie to Michael's self-serving prevarications: sales rep Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) continually cooks up methods to undermine his hated cube-mate, the obnoxious know-it-all Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson); receptionist Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) continually deals with Michael's insensitivities and flubs; and office temp Ryan Howard (B.J. Novak) acts mostly as an observer of the insanity around him. Some of the episodes in The Office's six-episode trial run carried over general plot ideas from the earlier British series, particularly the threat of wholesale downsizing that weaves through the various plots and subplots; however, only the pilot was a direct adaptation of one of the U.K. version's episodes. ~ All Movie Guide

Most of the six episodes in the first season of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's Extras follow a similar plot arc: bitter day player Andy (Gervais) trades barbs with his friend and colleague Maggie (Scottish actress Ashley Jensen), lobbies unsuccessfully for his agent (Merchant) to find him a proper acting gig, ingratiates himself with one of the big-name actors on whose films he's working, and finds himself stymied by either Maggie's verbal diarrhea or his own prickly personality. Within these narrow confines, however, Gervais and Merchant find just as much comic material as they did in the quotidian workplace of their breakout hit, The Office. The two shows definitely share an aesthetic, from their dry comedic sensibility to the laugh-track-free style that underscores their long, uncomfortable silences. Unlike the ensemble-style The Office, however, Extras focuses on just three core characters and a revolving cast of guest stars, including the celebrities who lend their names to the episode titles. Hollywood stars Ben Stiller, Kate Winslet, Samuel L. Jackson, and Patrick Stewart all spoof their public personae with glee, as do U.K. personalities Ross Kemp and Les Dennis. Written and directed jointly by Gervais and Merchant, Extras is a joint production of the BBC, where it ran in its native England, and HBO, where it appeared in America. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide