Release Date – 10/2/09
Mark Bellison lives in a world where there is no such thing as lying. Everyone is very truthful and upfront with their feelings. In fact, it makes things very hard for Mark because he is a chubby, snubbed nosed man with low self esteem. He tries to land the hot girl but she is too concerned with meeting a mate that will provide acceptable offspring. One day, he’s about to get evicted because he gets fired and has no cash. He goes to the bank and something sparks in his brain that causes him to say something that isn’t true. He asks for more money than he has to his name. Since there’s no lying in this world, no one second guesses him. From here on out, he does whatever he wants because according to the general public everything he is saying is true. This movie fell flat for me. I was expecting some great comedy coming from one of the funniest guys around today but I got a sappy, mediocre, predictable one instead.
Ricky Gervais is a comedy genius. Over the last couple years, I’ve really grown to love his style of awkward humor. I have a smile on my face whenever he pops up on TV whether in a movie or even at an award ceremony. Headlining movies, he hasn’t really hit his stride yet. His first attempt, Ghost Town, was decent. It had some laughs even though it was a storyline that’s been done before. One thing I didn’t like was the romantic comedy feel. And here in The Invention of Lying I get that feeling again. Gervais plays Mark Bellison and throws in his style of comedy due to his co-writing of the script with first time writer/director Matthew Robinson. Jennifer Garner plays the woman of his dreams who will only accept him as a friend due to his below average looks. Rob Lowe plays the handsome screenwriter who HATES Mark’s guts. It’s funny because screenwriting in this world is just a person reading a historical document since no one can create fiction due to it being a form of lie. Comedian Louis CK is Mark’s loser alcoholic bum friend. I get a kick out of Louis and laughed at all of his scenes. The movie is FILLED with cameos from the likes of Edward Norton, Jonah Hill, Tina Fey, Jason Bateman and even Phillip Seymour Hoffman. They each provide a couple laughs. The truthfulness of the characters is what provides a lot of the comedy.
The big problem is I never really laughed that hard. I had chuckles here and there and they were pretty consistent but nothing to really make me love what was happening on screen. The plot never really went in the direction that I was thinking it would. It kind of just drags on and repeats until the sappy predictable ending. If it wasn’t for Ricky Gervais’ charm and just genuine likability then this wouldn’t be a good movie at all. Ghost Town didn’t look that great to me so I waited until DVD to check it out, should have done the same with this one. Maybe worth a watch with your lady friend when it comes on HBO but not really the best theater attraction of the coming weekend. Come on Ricky, I know you have more than this in that brain of yours. Enough with the romantic comedies and bring on something clever.
IMDB – 8.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes – 78%
Movie Wiseguys – 6.5/10