Movie Summary of The Invention Of Lying by Michael The Moviegoer.
THE INVENTION OF LYING = **1/2
“The Truth About Lies”
It comes as a true surprise that the season’s most controversial film might turn out to be a romantic comedy starring Ricky Gervais and Jennifer Garner. The devious subversive subtext portrays religion and the stories in the bible as nothing more than lies. I guess one man’s comedy is another man’s blasphemy.
Those of us with open minds can easily find and appreciate the light-hearted humor in this metaphor. After naming Bill Maher’s “Religulous” one of my ten favorite films of last year, I believe I belong to that group. So the heavy-handed analogy didn’t bother me as much as how the rest of the movie just never really seemed to pay off comically or emotionally.
Through Gervais’ voiceover narration, we are introduced to a world before lying was invented. No matter what people say, it is the absolute truth. I like that as a concept for a comedy. But always telling the truth is a different concept than always speaking your mind. A person can be controllably truthful. My mother once told me if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. But here, for laughs, characters seem compelled to offer their hurtful and insulting opinions like a gushing water main break. The first 10 minutes are howlingly funny. But as the film drags on, it begins to feel like a broken record repeating the same old joke over and over again.
In this strange world, the words “truth” and “lies” and “God” do not exist in our vocabulary. (As one woman exclaims “man-in-the-sky forbid”). To comfort his dying mother, Gervais makes up a story about an afterlife in heaven, and how there are mansions for everyone. Suddenly, the world sees him as Moses delivering the ten commandments on the back of a Pizza Hut box, and a fun-filled comedy begins to take a dark turn.
All of this leads to a disappointing and underwhelming finish that focuses on the shallowness of women when choosing a mate.
Despite my disappointment however, I did enjoy the film’s few moments of inspired hilarity involving an all-star parade of cameo appearances including Tina Fey, Christopher Guest and Edward Norton.
DVD Double Feature: A much better comedy is 1997’s “Liar Liar” starring Jim Carrey as a lawyer who is forced to tell nothing but the truth for 24 hours.
Michael The Moviegoer
