Movie Review - The Invention of Lying (2009)

Starring Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Jonah Hill, Rob Lowe, and Tina Fey
Directed by Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson

I loved this movie.

That would be a lie.

In fact, I haven't been this frustrated with a movie in a bit (and I've seen some lousy ones lately). Unfortunately, I actually watched this one with paying patrons, so yelling at the screen was not an option.

Let me ask you this: If I am thinking something in my head -- a true, valid thought -- do I have to verbalize said thought in order for it to be true? Let's say that it's a sunny day. Must I say "It's a sunny day" in order for the notion of it being a sunny day to be true?

For the first twenty minutes or so of this movie, everyone says every single thing that's on their mind because, for some unknown reason, you must say what's on your mind in order for it to be true...as my brother said after the fact, it's as if everyone had verbal diarrhea. We're invited into this alternate reality in this movie in which lying hasn't been invented and everyone has to speak the truth...of course, you only spout what's on your mind when it serves a comedic purpose. Otherwise, you keep your mouth shut. And in addition to lying not being invented, couth and decorum haven't either [I may think this is a shittily written blog post, but I may not say it so as not to hurt someone's feelings...doesn't make it not true...NOTE: this is a shittily written blog post]. As the movie progresses, this notion of saying every single thing begins to fade away...mainly because the comedy portion of the movie is thrown out the window and we need to focus on both the romance between Mark (Ricky Gervais) and Anna (Jennifer Garner) and the denouncing of religion (which, admittedly, was the only intriguing part story-wise of the film). So, conveniently, there's no need to spout everything on your mind at this point. When Mark discovers that he can lie, he uses it to his advantage, both to attempt to get the girl and to eventually become a Jesus/Moses-type prophet who manages to convert the entire world onto his newfound notion of "religion." [NOTE: I realize I just said the same thing over and over again above, but I'm too lazy to go back and change it all.]

There's maybe an interesting premise here (although I'm not even sure of that), but it's all wasted. There's no comedy here. Gervais is a funny guy (watch the British version of The Office for proof), but he didn't even get a chuckle out of me here. Garner is okay, but nothing special. Side roles for Jonah Hill, Tina Fey, Louis C.K., and Jason Bateman are all wasted.

Another thing -- if everything everyone knew was truth and they had no reason to believe otherwise, there would be no debate about anything. However, we overhear a radio talk show where a debate is being held about Mark's personality...why would there be a debate as you would believe what you've heard because you know nothing else? There were a few other flaws, but I am trying to forget all aspects of this movie at this point because it's just not worth taking up brain space.

The RyMickey Rating: D-