Movie Review: The Invention Of Lying

Movie Review: The Invention Of Lying

First let me say I'm not a devoutly religious person but I do believe in God, though perhaps not organized religion so much. That said, I enjoyed this movie, but it also left me feeling a bit meh, at the assumption that everything about God is a lie.

I'm not going to go into a huge religious dissertation about the film, because there is more to the film then that.

The alternate reality that Ricky Gervais created is one where everyone's words are taken as the truth. Mark (Gervais) is the first and only man ever to tell a lie. Hilarity ensues as he changes from an unemployed loser to a rich and famous writer.

Just when he thinks he's starting to have it all his mother suffers a near fatal heart attack and isn't expected to live. As she's dying, Mark comforts her with his tale of a "heaven" which soon spreads through the world.

Through his lies he becomes closer to the woman he loves, Anna (Jennifer Garner)but he still can't win her heart because she still believes she's wants perfect children and not fat snub nosed ones.

I kinda found it hard to like her even at the end when she admitted her love for Mark. I found her character to be shallow and just generally unlikable, much like all the other characters in the film. Marks secretary/assistant Shelly, played by Tina Fey made me want to smack her in the face. Rob Lowe's Brad Kessler was obnoxious, pompous and well what does it matter, he was supposed to be that way. I just couldn't grasp that only a few other loser types seemed to like him, when most of the time I wanted to give him a big hug.

The film was cute but it wasn't great and it definitely wasn't up to Gervais' usual standards. I'd probably put it behind Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past on the entertaining scale, which is sad because Ricky Gervais is flipping funny, and he was funny in this movie, only his writing wasn't quite up to par, and him being funny wasn't enough to make this a fantastic comedy. Why was he the only man that could lie? Why didn't any of his friends learn from him when they saw his success? There were too many plot holes for me, and I'm the type of person that thinks about things, even silly movies

This is a movie that's best Netflixed. Don't waste $9 or more on it. If you have a Maxi Saver theater in your area, check it out there. Its good but there are too many other things worth spending that kind of money on.

2.5 stars out of 5