Review: The Invention of Lying (2009)
February 27th 2010 01:01
The Invention of Lying (Gervais & Robinson, 2009)
Written February 26, 2010
The Invention of Lying, co-written and co-directed by Ricky Gervais is a high concept comedy which requires a lot of suspension of disbelief on the part of the viewer. It requires us to imagine a world in which the concept of a lie or, more accurately, embellishment, does not exist. Because of this, there is no such thing as fiction as it is not fact. There are no fiction books and no fiction films. Films are simply readings of texts turned into screenplays by the screenwriters at a studio (seemingly the only film studio in the world) called Lecture Films. Mark Bellison (Gervais) is one of those writers. He is unhappy with his life, has no prospects, and can’t get the girl he wants, Anna McDoogles (played by Jennifer Gardner) because of his looks.
After Mark is fired and is about to be evicted he inadvertently invents lying when asked how much money is in his bank account. He has no word to call his new invention and whatever he says is taken as fact. The interactions prior to Mark’s invention come off as awkward because it’s difficult to envision people talking this way in normal conversation.
The high concept nature of the film is pushed one step further by incorporating religion. In the world Mark lived in before, people just died and had an eternity of nothingness after their death. When tragedy strikes Mark personally, he creates the idea of an afterlife. Suddenly the whole world wants to know about this so-called afterlife. Thus, Mark creates his own version of the Ten Commandments. He addresses a crowd with his make-shift Commandments taped to Pizza Hut boxes like Moses stone slabs and creates a Man in the Sky who controls everyone. People even begin to say ‘Man in the Sky Forbid’. At one point Mark looks exactly like Jesus. It’s all just a bit too much.
A strange subplot is thrown in with Gardner and Mark’s arch nemesis Brad Kessler (Rob Lowe). They began dating even after Gardner says she loves Mark. This is simply because she cannot get past his looks and how their children would be ‘little fat kids with snob noses’ (this line is uttered about 5 times during the film). Still, we all know she wants to be with him and she will be by the end of the film so the entire subplot is rather pointless and makes up the majority of the film’s third act.
Unfortunately the laughs are few and far between in The Invention of Lying. Gervais is charming as always but the film ultimately fails to sustain attention and interest. Nevertheless, it doesn’t drag on and that’s always a plus within an average to somewhat bad film. Also, there are numerous cameos which are rather amusing.
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