Product Description

Meet Andy Millman, Actor. Never forgets his lines because he never gets any. Andy (Ricky Gervais) is a desperate man. He's been an actor for five years but thanks to his useless agent (Stephen Merchant), he?s never done any real acting. Instead, he?s a lowly film extra, making his mark in the background while the stars do their work. His partner in arms is the pitiable Maggie, a fellow extra and a hopeless romantic. Andy may be an extra, but he?s a star in his own right. Too bad nobody else agrees.

DVD Features:
Deleted Scenes:Never-before-seen deleted scenes featuring Kate Winslet, Samuel L. Jackson and Patrick Stewart. Over 20 minutes of exclusive outtakes.
Other:"The Difficult Second Album" behind-the-scenes featurette. "Finding Leo" -- Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant?s desperate attempt to secure a guest appearance by one of Hollywood?s top celebrity?s.
Deleted Scenes
Featurette:The Difficult Second Album- Behind the scenes of EXTRAS Finding Leo- featurette
Outtakes

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9800 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-01-09
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 180 minutes

Amazon.com
After the British series of The Office came to an end, co-creators Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant were faced with an enviable problem: After making the most influential and acclaimed sitcom of the past decade, what do you do next? Amazingly, they've actually created an equally brilliant show: Extras, in which Gervais plays Andy Millman, an frustrated actor who can only get work as a "background artist"--i.e., an extra. Not only does the role continue to mine Gervais' gift for self-humiliation (which, staggeringly enough, may be even more excruciating than his David Brent's behavior in The Office, because Andy is more socially capable yet still can't avoid moments of jaw-dropping embarrassment), but Gervais has also persuaded a glorious variety of stars to tweak their own images. High points include Kate Winslet (Sense & Sensibility) teaching Andy's best friend Maggie (Ashley Jensen, Ugly Betty) how to talk dirty and Patrick Stewart (X-Men) describing his new screenplay about a man who uses psychic powers to remove women's clothing. But Ben Stiller, Samuel L. Jackson, Ross Kemp (sort of the British version of Michael Chiklis), and Les Dennis (sort of the British version of...well, there may not be an American version of Les Dennis) all also turn in deliciously ego-bursting turns. Merchant plays Andy's deliriously dense agent, but the core of the show is the relationship between Andy and Maggie. Over the course of six episodes, the interplay between this hapless, starry-eyed pair grows into a wonderfully tender portrait of friendship that perfectly balances the show's so-funny-it-hurts humor. The extras are few but worth watching: Along with a behind-the-scenes featurette, genuinely funny deleted scenes, and the usual clips of everyone forgetting their lines and swearing, there's a very funny sequence of Gervais and Merchant desperately trying to replace Jude Law (who had to drop out of an episode) with Leonardo DiCaprio. All in all, Extras: The Complete First Season is essential viewing. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

Grows on You
This is a wonderful little series and a touching one too. Ricky Gervais plays an actor and writer who finds work as an extra. The parts are extremely small and usually never have a speaking part. He has a useless agent who seems as lost as he is and his friend Maggie is even more completely hopeless, she lives in a hovel without much money and usually is treated worse when working as an extra. The jokes are subtle and don't overwhelm the pathos of the character's lives. The more you watch it, the more poignant the episodes become. A nice piece of work, short and sweet.

Pardon?
Ricky Gervais is Mr. Unfunny in my opinion. If there was an option to choose zero stars I think that would be more apropriate.

Some great bits but overall just pretty good
I'm a big UK Office fan, so I was curious how Gervais would follow that up. I thought this first season was funny overall, but not quite up to the standard of the Office. The humor is the same: watching defective characters in awkwardly uncomfortable situations. I found it funny, but after David Brent, Gervais' Andy Millman character seemed a bit too mundane for me, and his annoying female sidekick's silliness sometimes seemed forced and unrealistic. This series does have some genuinely classic moments though. The funniest aspect is the celebrity cameos, in which big time entertainers play warped versions of themselves. I was laughing out loud at the crass and cynical Kate Winslet, the megalomaniacal Ben Stiller and the girl-crazy, juvenile Patrick Stewart. I had never heard of the two British celebrities- Ross Kemp and Les Dennis- but their faux personalities were great too. So, I think this is a very good series- perhaps even deserving of all its awards- but a definite second-best in the Office-style genre of comedy.