Review: The Invention of Lying

The Invention of Lying has the feel of a British comedy, led by Ricky Gervais but supported by an altogether American cast. Perhaps because Gervais was co-writer & director, the supporting actors somehow have a fish-out-water feel, meanwhile the lone Brit is the only character that seems solid within the movie's alternate reality.

Within that reality, the human race lacks the ability for creative abstraction- lying. Most strikingly, this means there's no religion and no concept of fiction. That's as far as the concept is taken, because ultimately, the film isn't about our ability to imagine or tell lies. Taken to a fully literal and logical end, you'd have to wonder at the fact the human race was able to spread and develop to the same technological level we have, without the ability to first imagine something that doesn't presently exist.

Gervais is schluby screen-writer Mark Bellison, whose life seems stuck in an inexorable decline. From a bad date with Anna McDoogles (Jennifer Garner) a woman entirely out of his league, to losing his job the following day and finally hitting rock-bottom with eviction from his apartment. We're explicitly told this is all going to happen, so I don't feel bad giving any of it away. There's subtle foreshadowing, masterfully woven into the character development and Gervais' portrayal of Mark Bellison here, which elegantly lays the framework for the titular "invention" of lying.

I'm compelled to point out, from the moment Mark Bellison discovers he can confer unreal information and that others are entirely unequipped to understand what a lie is... well this movie becomes something I didn't expect from title or previews. In fact, I'd have seen the movie a hell of a lot sooner had I known what I'd be watching.

It's a secular (perhaps atheistic) morality play, of sorts; an altogether novel and refreshing movie experience. Mark Bellison becomes a type of Moses, through his invention of the lie. This is where the deceit of the title and advertising undermines the actual movie, as Bellison is the only human who can lie, who understands what a lie is (tho he lacks the word lie). Ergo, we aren't witnessing the emergence of lying as a meme that sweeps through the world, forever altering the status quo, à la "Pleasantville."

Despite initially abusing his new knack with self-serving lies, Mark quickly reveals he's found benevolent use for his ability as well. The latter fact is the subject of a music-montage that feels a bit heavy-handed: a contrived and conventional use of a hollywood cinematic cliche. Altho, it was done to a cover of Cat Stevens classic "Sitting" lyrically tweaked just right to foreshadow, so I feel nit-picky bringing it up.

In the end, Mark is able to side-step apotheosis and get the girl. For those who believe in the secular magic of love, the message might be "love conquers all." For the hard-line naturalists it may be that she sees a novel survival trait that trumps his portliness and snub-nose. It's unclear what becomes of his "sky-man" religion, I suspect it's lost in the happily-ever-after. Definitely a must watch.