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.