Download The Invention of Lying Movie

The Invention of Lying Movie
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In Cinemas 02/10/09

Director: Ricky Gervais, Matthew Robinson

Stars: Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Jonah Hill

Year: 2009 Running Time: 100 mins Rating: 3 stars 12A

Ricky Gervais’ second Hollywood comedy spins on the high-concept premise that people are conditioned to speak the truth. It’s a world where lying – or even the idea of a porky - doesn’t exist . That’s all very well if you’re rich and good looking but if you’re a “chubby little loser” then getting the girl is going to be tough. Particularly if the lady in question is Jennifer Garner’s spiky career girl. Unless, of course, you learn to fib. Scripted by first-timer Matthew Robinson and polished up by Gervais, this is a treasure trove of sharp one-liners that expand to the tallest tales literally being taken as gospel.

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Review

Honesty is not just the best policy it’s the only policy in a world where lying quite simply doesn’t exist.

Advertising hoardings don’t deceive – “Pepsi: When They Don’t Have Coke” and even residential care homes describe themselves as A Sad Place For Hopeless Old People.

However, it’s personal relationships where this unyielding insistence on the truth causes the most mayhem.

If you’re wealthy and good-looking you’ll constantly have your ego stroked by straight-talking admirers…but if you’re a “chubby little loser” then your self-esteem is going to take quite a knock.

Mark Bellison (Gervais) falls firmly into the latter group. An underperforming script editor facing the sack, he’s also on the rebound from a blind date with Anna (Garner), a sexy marketing whizz who candidly informed him “I’m not sleeping with you.”

In all honesty, it all looks pretty hopeless until Mark goes to the bank and – after a seismic synapse malfunction in his brain – finds himself asking for $800 rather than the $300 he knows he has left in his account.

Armed with the ability to fib, life looks a lot rosier as he walks out of a casino with a fortune and even manages to talk Ed Norton’s cocaine-addicted cop out of giving his buddy a ticket.

He’s even making an impression on Anna…until a few comforting white lies delivered to his dying mother – along the lines of 'you’re going to heaven' – are taken literally and Mark finds himself regarded as some sort of messiah.

This clever comedy works best on a personal level with the crushingly honest observations from one character to another triggering the biggest laughs. The wry dig at religions which take everything as gospel has its moments but it’s Mark’s relationship with Anna where the richest humour lies.

Gervais pretty much reprises his earlier roles – wheeling out excruciating moments of discomfort – but it’s Garner who’s the comedy revelation here. Skittish, bright and vivacious, she plays her part to perfection.

It’s a solid, decent comedy. And that’s no lie.

Tim Evans