The Invention of Lying Review

Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 10.05.2009

In a world where everyone tells the truth, the man who lies is...not necessarily king

Directed by: Ricky Gervais & Matthew Robinson
Written by: Ricky Gervais & Matthew Robinson

Starring:
Ricky Gervais - Mark Bellison
Jennifer Garner - Anna McDoogles
Rob Lowe - Brad Kessler
Louis C.K. - Greg
Jonah Hill - Frank
Jeffrey Tambor - Anthony James
Christopher Guest - Nathan Goldfrappe
Tina Fey - Shelley
Fionnula Flanagan - Martha Bellison
Stephanie March - Woman on the Street
Jason Bateman - Doctor (cameo)
Stephen Merchant - Home Owner (cameo)
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Bartender (cameo)
Edward Norton - Traffic Cop (cameo)
Martin Starr - Waiter
Shaun Williamson - Richard Bellison




Running Time: 100 minutes
Rated PG-13 for language including some sexual material and a drug reference

Ricky Gervais is one of Britain's hottest film and television export of the last few years. The comedian, who is best known for his role on the original British version of the television show The Office, has been slowly but steadily building his profile in America over the last several years. Besides The Office, Gervais's Extras was well-received during its run on BBC and HBO from 2005 until the end of the second season in 2007. He has transitioned to roles in film, appearing in films like Christopher Guest's For Your Consideration, the Night at the Museum films and 2007's highly underrated Stardust and gone behind the scenes as a producer on the American hit version of The Office. In 2008, he got his first American leading role, in the film Ghost Town alongside Tea Leoni and Greg Kinnear. The film earned excellent reviews and though its box office gross paled in comparison to other films, it made back its gross with worldwide earnings. Gervais has now teamed with first-time writer/director Matthew Robinson for his latest film, The Invention of Lying, starring Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Rob Lowe, Louis C.K. and Jeffrey Tambor.

Lying takes place in an alternate world where no one has ever lied. There is no knowledge of anything that is untrue, whether lies, half-truths, humor or even fiction. In this world, the film industry is controlled by Lecture Films, who simply type up true accounts of history and hire writers to read from the scripts. One of these script writers is Mark Bellison (Gervais). He is a sad sort of individual, as everyone quite honestly gives their assessment of him as a loser. He has been assigned the fourteenth century to write scripts from, which was dominated by the black plague which his boss Anthony (Tambor) considers too much of a downer. After a humiliating but somewhat optimistically-ending date with Anna (Garner), who both acknowledge is way out of his league, Mark finds himself fired the next day. Forced to withdraw money to pay his rent, he stumbles upon a startling thing: he can lie. He begins to lie to other people, not only to help himself get his job back and show up his jerk of a coworker Brad Kessler (Lowe) and to get Anna, but to help people out including his dying mother (Flanagan). As Mark tries to do both however, things start to spiral entirely out of control and he has to figure out how to make it right—if he even can.

Ricky Gervais teamed with Matthew Robinson in both writing and directing The Invention of Lying, and for those familiar with Gervais's work that fact is immediately apparent. The film contains heavy doses of his self-deprecating humor, as he allows himself to be constantly mocked and poked fun at. It's not the slapstick style of self-deprecation that Ben Stiller is fond of or the dim-witted types that Will Farrell finds himself sinking into. This is entirely Gervais's own take on the perennial loser, and it works quite well. The concept and story is Robinson's, and it's a nicely original idea given a fun spin by Gervais's work. Mark is not an ass or a saint, he's just a man who finds himself in an extraordinary situation for his world, and his decisions to both help himself and others comes across far more interesting than, say, Jim Carrey's character in Bruce Almighty, who goes entirely selfish for most of the film. Meanwhile, the gimmick itself—the world not lying—results in some funny situations. Occasionally Robinson and Gervais turn "honesty" into a strange form of Tourette's syndrome where people just say whatever they feel at the time, and that doesn't always work. Is true, complete honesty about saying anything that comes to mind without a word filter? If we lived in a world of complete honesty would we be unable to keep from telling everyone what we thought of them, all the time? If so, why does Rob Lowe's smarmy lecture writer tell Mark that he didn't like him, something which Mark didn't know but everyone else did? These are fairly minor nitpicks, and to be sure it would be strange to imagine a world without any form of deceit, so the tiny holes in the concept can be forgiven.

As Gervais and Robinson build upon the story, we have some interesting aspects that come out. The world apparently does not have any concept of God, because no one has ever spoken of him. Is this an atheistic statement by the filmmakers, or just an observation that in a world without lying, it is nearly impossible to accept things you cannot see on pure faith? This could be interpreted as a mean-spirited comment on religion to be sure, but when one thinks about it, it makes sense. The Bible and most religious texts are written in parable, as opposed to exact accounts. In this world of pure truth, such parables would never have been written and thus the word would never have spread. Either way, the two clearly have no intention to be mean-spirited about it and while it seems an odd path for the film to take, it works more often than not. In the meantime, there are some great sight gags. Elderly homes in this world are entitled "A Sad Place Where Hopeless Old People Come to Die," while churches are "A Quiet Place to Think About the Man in the Sky." These are quick and funny, drawing laughs from the audience before moving along.

Funny while things like that or Garner introducing herself to Gervais's character by noting she was just masturbating are, this is not a straight comedy. Those looking for a laugh-out-loud riot are better off checking out another film. This one steers more toward the dramedy route. It never quite gets there but it does tackle the serious almost much as the humorous. A scene where Mark encounters a deep and profound tragedy is handled very nicely. It is almost jarring to the film's tone as it switches gears too quickly, but the poignancy with which the script and film delivers them makes it less of an inconvenience than one might think.

The performances in the film are uniformly excellent. Gervais handles his role with the kinds of panache we've seen from him before in his previous work. He makes Mark an everyman, the kind of average Joe that just wants to not be a loser and make the things he thinks are wrong about the world right. Garner is adequate as Anna, and it is only her charm which carries the character's likability through the first half of the movie where she comes off as beyond shallow. Lowe makes a good antagonist as the more handsome and successful Brad, and the host of character actors in other roles work nicely, including Tambor, Christopher Guest, Jonah Hill and Tina Fey. Gervais and Robinson also managed to score a lot of cameos, and they all work including Phillip Seymour Hoffman as a bartender and Edward Norton as a traffic cop with self-acknowledged rage issues. Each of these roles is recognizable and draws a laugh from the audience, and perhaps they're a testament to Gervais's expanding power within Hollywood. Or perhaps they're just a statement about how many actors appreciated the script and wanted to be involved. For whatever reason, they add more time to the funny side of the movie and it's much appreciated.

Ultimately, one wonders what Gervais and Robinson are trying to say with this movie. Are they trying to point out that deceit is not only a fact of life, but an important one? Certainly, in the earlier parts of the film everyone seems to be depressed and anxious, on the edge of suicide in some cases or just approached the breakdown of their egos or relationship. Things seem to get better when Mark starts using his newly-acquired power to help them, but then we learn that it's just created more complications by the end. Maybe this is a film in which the message is moderation. Some deceit is necessary in life. All of the films that we love are fiction after all, even the ones "based on a true story." Or perhaps maybe it's a movie made simply to entertain. On that front, despite some unevenness in the tone, The Invention of Lying delivers.

The 411: Ricky Gervais's new film is not as funny as Ghost Town, his last starring role. However, this is not to say it doesn't have its charm. Featuring a intriguing if uneven script from Gervais and Matthew Robinson and some stellar performances from the cast, the movie is less funny than you might expect but more poignant as well. Gervais holds up very well as the everyman in the main role and despite some occasional detours that don't always work, the movie on the whole succeeds and makes one hope the actor's next role pushes him even further into the spotlight.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]