The Invention of Lying (Warner Brothers)
A One Joke Movie
The Invention of Lying is a movie about a time and place where people only tell the truth. Ricky Gervais co-wrote, co-directed and stars in it and usually he is a very funny man. I even liked his film Ghost Town which wasnt well received. This one though is just a one joke film that gets old quickly. Better Gervais had invented some better jokes than the art of lying.
Mark Bellison (Gervais) lives in a time and place where people can only speak the truth. He works at a film studio where he has been told he will probably be fired soon. That night he goes out on a date with Anna (Jennifer Garner) and she quickly tells him he is not attractive enough to interest her.
Things go from bad to worse as he does get fired and Anna doesnt want to see him anymore. But then he has a revelation: he can lie about things. This opens up a whole new world to him and he becomes rich and famous.
One day he visits his seriously ill mother (Fionnula Flanagan) at the nursing home where she lives. The doctors tell him she is near death. As he tries to comfort her he begins to invent a place where she will go after her death. It is run by the man in the sky, he says, and is a place where she will be eternally happy. At this point the movie lurches into an anti- religion theme and goes steadily downhill.
Gervais is the best actor in the film and the one who holds your attention. Unfortunately you also have to deal with Garner, who never seems remotely realistic in her role. To add insult to injury there is the miscast Rob Lowe playing Gervais rival in business and for Garners hand. Then there are a series of cameos by people such as Tina Fey, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Jonah Hill. These range from bad to boring.
There are some comedic moments. Most of these were shown in the trailer for the film and very few new laugh inducing moments are in the script. So you could have watched the trailer and avoided the movie and still seen the best of what the film has to offer.
Gervais is reputed to be an atheist and his attack on religion as the biggest lie of all bears out that thought. He not only antagonizes those of faith but he does it in a boring way. You would never imagine that the man who created this film is also the man behind The Office and Extras.
The film is rated PG-13 for profanity and adult humor.
If you want to see Ricky Gervais at his best, watch the British version of The Office or watch his one man HBO specials. You might even want to watch Ghost Town. But dont go to this movie thinking you are going to be laughing all the way thought it. Youre not!
I scored The Invention of Lying an untrue 4 out of 10.
