Mark Bellinson (Ricky Gervais) is a middleaged filmwriter who's in love with Anna McDoogles (Jennifer Garner), an attractive woman who doesn't care the least for him. Very usual and expected except for the fact that they live in a world where no one can tell a lie.
It's a regular society, just like ours, but without the lies. So instead of saying "no, baby, that dress doesn't make you fat" or "don't worry, it won't hurt", people say: "yes, this dress makes you look like a whale" and "yes, it will hurt like hell".
Nobody is capable of lying... until Mark finds himself available to trick a banker in order to get some extra money. So there it is: "he says something that isn't", in his own words. He starts using it to help others with their problems....
...Including his sick mother on her death band. When she's about to die, Mark tells her about this magic place that people go to when they die, where everyone has a mansion and everybody's happy. He also tells her about the Man in the Sky, who's always watching and protecting us. So he invents... religion!
It seemed like an interesting plot, but unfortunately The Invention of Lying wasn't as good as it could have been. I must say this is the first Ricky Gervais movie I watch, but I wasn't very fascinated about it. Gervais seemed desperate to say "I'm fat! I'm ugly!" - and I'm not exaggerating, the first half is full of derogatory jokes.
It was interesting to see that world, though. Especially the publicity ads, they were pretty funny. It's a good idea and there are some good moments, but the whole Man in the Sky thing took too much time and made things a bit slow.
The cast works relatively well: Garner is likeable and does her job well, even though her part was inglorious; and Jonah Hill has a comic appearance as a suicidal co-office worker. The only weak performance here was Rob Lowe, shallow and annoying.
I'm being very harsh, but overall The Invention of Lying was not bad. It was an average comedy that would have been better if they have focused more on the people and on that imaginary world. That would have been much better - I could see a spin-off show being made out of it.
I'll watch Gervais' previous feature Ghost Town soon. I've seen some reviews saying it was better than this one, but we'll see about that.
The final score: 6. Has a good idea and gives some good moments, but could have been better if they hadn't given so much time to the Man in the Sky plot. Watchable, but a little forgettable.
>> ZÉ B. [6/10]
IMDB link: HERE
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