Movie Review: The Invention Of Lying

I was looking forward to The Invention Of Lying, greatly enjoying Ricky Gervais as both performer and writer. The movie lived up to my hopes with quirky characters, laugh out loud funny moments and scathing social commentary. This is a thinking person’s comedy, as is the case with most Gervais ventures. Who else but Gervais would have thought up a world without lies? The movie follows a regular guy who is in love with a beautiful woman he thinks is out of his league. His life changes when he discovers the art of lying to get what he thinks he deserves.

The script is full of clever writing along with hilarious blunt, honest observations from characters who cannot tell a lie. The direction, script and acting are all top notch in this movie. Gervais is especially good here, believable, funny and touching in serious moments. There is a scene involving Gervais’ character Mark Bellison crying as he visits his sickly mother that is as good a serious acting scene as I’ve seen in movies. As I’ve said before the best comic actors are usually great dramatic actors as well, pain usually lies behind brilliant comics.

This is a comedy film I would recommend you see, its so rare to find a story that is new combined with such great comic writing. Watch for a number of star cameos here and there throughout the movie. Do yourself a favor and rent The Invention Of Lying soon.

2009. Written and directed by Matthew Robinson and Ricky Gervais. Starring Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Jonah Hill, Louis C.K., Rob Lowe and Tina Fey.

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