Film Review: The Invention of Lying

The Invention of Lying is in a world all its own: the social interactions in it are so bizarre that I felt more at odds with it than any film I've seen featuring dinosaurs and/or zombies. Everyone not only tells the entire truth to each other, but if they are thinking anything related to the other person--anything at all--they say it without a second thought. For example, a woman at the start comments "Your baby is so ugly, it's like a little rat," and Anna (Jennifer Garner), the female lead, says that she won't be sleeping with her date tonight to her mother--while on the phone, in front of her date. The world has otherwise developed similarly to ours, but everyone acts like this. It's distinctly odd, and I expect a few people will have a hard time accepting it.

Those who can, though, can expect the same awkward social comedy Ricky Gervais has been peddling on The Office and Extras in the UK for years. Here, though, it seems he has designed the ultimate awkward situation, and he revels in it. His character, Mark Bellison, is an ordinary man at best--and, judging by what his coworkers say to his face, that's being nice. He works at a company that writes screenplays, but since no one invented fiction, they all involve people sitting in a chair reading a story from history. Bellison hasn't been able to make a film people like out of the the 13th Century, since who wants to hear about the Black Plague? Everyone at the office knows he's getting fired (his boss, naturally, couldn't keep it in), and lo, he is fired. When his landlord comes by for the rent, he can't pay it, and is evicted; but when he goes out to the bank to pay the movers he's hiring, he asks for $800 from his account--his rent--instead of the $300 he actually has. The teller, who has never heard a lie, assumes there's an error in the system, and gives him his rent money. Bellison leaves the bank on Cloud Nine.

And so it goes. Like Gervais' previous film Ghost Town, he mixes this straight-faced absurdity with observations on the nature of people, and relationships. Bellison tries to use his "power" for good as well as fortune, by telling people lies that make them feel better or solve problems; naturally, not everything works out.

What's new, though, is a parody of religion, especially Christianity--picture The Life of Brian in a modern setting. This will surprise those who came expecting a straight-up romantic comedy, but it's a major plot device, and is well-written, if a little derivative.

If you can get past the pure oddity of the conceit, you will find that writers Gervais and Matthew Robinson have had a great deal of fun with it, and fans of Gervais' past work will be pleased. Expect this film to develop a cult following.