Extras: Season 01  (2005)

Theatrical Release Information:
Extras: Season 01

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