The Invention of Lying
Jennifer Garner and Ricky Gervais in The Invention of Lying
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By Richard James. |  |
Tuesday, 29, Sep 2009 12:19
Directed by Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson, out October 2nd in cinemas, starring Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Jonah Hill, Rob Lowe, running time 100 mins.
In a nutshell...
Entertaining and enjoyably clichéd comedy.
What's it all about?
A world in which no one is able to tell a lie is turned upside down when a nobody (Ricky Gervais) discovers how to "say something that isn't".
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Who's in it?
The lead writer and star of the film is Ricky Gervais, who should, by now, need little introduction. From a five-minute slot on The 11 O'Clock Show (the same programme that gave us another worldwide British comedy phenomenon in Ali G), Gervais has seen a remarkable rise to fame.
In addition to one of the biggest selling stand-up comedy tours in UK history, a writer and star credit on The Office and Extras, and now Hollywood stardom, Reading-born Gervais is an inspiration to every other fortysomething male that still thinks he can make it in the big time.
The film also boasts a remarkable support cast including Rob Lowe, Tina Fey, Jennifer Garner, and an amusing cameo from one of the film industry's most respected names - Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
As an example...
""If you could do anything - make the world whatever you wanted it to be, what would you do?" - Mark Bellison
"[long pause] I would... touch girls' boobs." - Frank
"Ok... Well, let's give it a go then." - Mark
What the others say
"The early reels are a marvel of sustained comic invention and verbal wit, with a dash of speculative humor that borders on science fiction." - Variety
"Invention of Lying deserves to take its place as a modern American comedy classic right alongside such worthy counterparts as Groundhog Day and Idiocracy." - eFilmCritic.com
So is it any good?
If there is a better way to start a film than picking apart the niceties of the dating game by turning every social convention on its head for comedic effect, I am yet to see it.
The opening scenes of Invention of Lying are a brilliant showcase for the observational but slightly off-the-wall comedy that runs through Gervais' stand-up.
A date, in a world where everyone tells the complete truth, is a mine-field for all involved. Although the fact that embarrassment appears to be missing from this parallel reality helps.
From the waiter declaring, "I took a sip of your drink... just there", to Garner's character explaining over the phone that she "won't be sleeping with him tonight" while sitting opposite her date, the scene will have audiences in stitches.
But despite these more obvious jokes, what makes the comedy of the film so enthralling is the throwaway gags that litter the entire production.
A brief view of a sign on the front of a retirement home reads, "Sad place for hopeless old people" - and this is among a number of fleeting one-liners that will keep you smiling throughout.
Gervais' acting has never been of the highest calibre, which he would no doubt admit to himself, but there is certainly signs of a marked improvement in his on-screen persona.
One scene sees him crying by his mother's bedside - and what I feared could be a very cringeworthy moment turns out to be genuinely moving.
Some might say that after the laugh-a-minute opening scenes, the rest of the film pales in comparison. But after drawing you in by spoonfeeding you the laughs, it calms down nicely and trundles along at an enjoyable pace.
At the risk of alienating some of his audience (something Gervais has never been afraid of doing throughout his career in comedy), he pokes fun at religion among other things which adds an edge, although not too much to make it controversial.
This means it lacks that bite of Gervais' normal rapier wit, on which he made his name, but it still retains a certain charm. There remains a morality to the tale, but this is given something of a backseat - which is to the film's credit.
Overall, it is difficult to find fault.
You could say the 'love story' between Gervais and Garner's characters seems slightly forced, and the attempted feel-good factor of the ending doesn't come across in the right way given the earlier characterisation of the female lead as rather unpleasant - regardless of whether she is able to lie or not.
These holes can all be brushed under the carpet by adding that the movie is at times clichéd, but wonderfully so, and still maintains a genuine element of pioneering in the screenplay and the subject matter.
While you'd think you should have seen hundreds of the jokes in this film before, many are, as far as I'm aware, new to the big screen. Gervais, whose stock seems to be on one inexorable rise to superstardom on both sides of the Atlantic, has churned out another excellent piece of work.
8/10
Alistair Potter