What was it that made The Office such a memorable show? The regular laugh-out-loud moments of brilliantly observed behaviour? The cover your eyes and squirm in your seat levels of embarrassment it induced? Personally, I think it was the sense of pathos that kicked in every time you thought it was getting too extreme, those moments of real human emotion, like Tim and Dawns tentative relationship or David Brents final moment of maturity.

It shouldnt then come as a major surprise that Gervais & Merchant can turn a basic coming-of-age tale like Cemetery Junction into something slightly greater than the sum of its clichs.

All the expected elements – drama, comedy, emotional arcs, a life-changing catalyst, a big juicy moral centre – are present and correct in this tale of three childhood friends who, after years of waiting, are suddenly faced with life-changing decisions. In this case, Cemetery Junction is both the small, dull, Home Counties town where theyve always lived and also the point theyve reached. Stay here and die? Or take a different direction and just maybe live?

Freddie (Cooke) is the one with ambition and eager to swap his old life in the factory, alongside his dad (Gervais) and best mate Bruce (Hughes), for the first rung of the life assurance corporate ladder. Bruce talks of leaving but everyone knows he never will, while their amiable mate Snork (Doolan) probably couldnt find his way out of the town without a trail of breadcrumbs.

Freddies sense of ambition is a slight sticking point, but doesnt necessarily stop the three hanging out and getting up the same old mischief theyve always done. However, Freddies increasingly aware that the old habits – drinking and clubbing and getting into fights – wont help his career ambitions, nor will it last: theres a very fine line between big fish, small pond and sad old bugger living on past reputation. Theres another reason to change too: his bosss daughter Julie (Felicity Jones). Inevitably, events come to a head, forcing the boys into a life-changing decision.

On the surface, thats all a bit so what? and a by-the-numbers tale that, for all its charming sense of period (depressingly I remember 1973 looking exactly like this) has been seen time and time before. However, the freshness of the leads, the believable nature of their friendship, and a frequently hilarious script dotted with moments of genuine emotion makes it easy to overlook the conventional nature of the film. A very fine, poignant effort.

Stars: Christian Cooke, Tom Hughes, Jack Doolan, Ralph Fiennes, Ricky Gervais
Written by: Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant
Directed by: Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant
Cert: 15
Running time: 95 minutes