Gervais- The Inventor of Predictable?

To tell the truth…after hearing an initial rundown of the premise of The Invention of Lying, a savvy viewer may immediately delegate this film as a reverse replication of the popular 90’s flick Liar, Liar.  However, co-writers/directors Ricky Gervais and Mark Robinson successfully took a familiar concept and twisted it into a sharp, fresh and un-linkable comedy.

 

Admittedly, the first 30 minutes of The Invention of Lying may well be the only truly inventive part of this quirky and inspired tale, as they are jam-packed with the majority of the jokes and laugh-out-loud humor.  These few opening scenes are absolutely brilliant…smartly written and seamlessly layered —as one would expect from the man who created BBC’s highly acclaimed shows The Office and Extras (Gervais).  Amongst the laughter, these scenes introduce the movie’s two main characters Mark (Gervais) and Anna (Jennifer Garner) and set up its premise of a parallel universe in which lying does not yet exist.  Unfortunately, the remaining 60 minutes of the film slowly wane in excitement as the unsustainable plot takes one too many predictable turns and the humor becomes tiresomely repetitive.  Yet, despite its dwindling dissent, this film’s initial hilarity, witty gags and quality cameos (including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jason Bateman, Christopher Guest and Edward Norton) do, indeed, carry it through.

 

Set in an alternate reality reminiscent to that of Pleasantville, Gervais and Robinson place us in a world that is seemingly more perfect than then our own—however there’s always a catch!  In this world, humans have no concept of fibs, falsehoods, or fabrications, but it goes beyond just plain honesty.  Everyone in this world is completely unconscious of embarrassment and shame, and their highly uninhibited truth telling becomes blunt bursts of the most blatant of thoughts running through their minds.  This is clearly illustrated in one of the opening scenes where we find Mark picking up Anna for their arranged date.  Staged in a familiar and intentionally cliché “blind date” manner, a slightly overweight and average looking Mark nervously approaches the door as slim and beautiful Anna is waiting on the other side.  The movie then breaks the cliché tense exchange, introducing its truthful and frank humor.  “How are you?” inquires a hopeful Mark.  “Depressed and pessimistic about our date tonight,” Anna replies at the sight of him.  She then proceeds to express that she had just engaged in some tension relieving masturbation, which she hopes to finish up before dinner.  Literally… no one holds back anything. 

 

The plot momentarily digresses from the not-so-budding romance between Mark and Anna, and focuses on Mark’s dismal life as a writer for Lecture Films Motion Picture Studios (where, naturally, all non-fiction productions are made).  Here, we further encounter the casual exclamations of thoughts going through each character’s mind with the introduction of Mark’s domineering secretary (Tina Fey), his loathsome co-worker (Rob Lowe) and his advertising executives who use slogans like: “Pepsi.  When They Don’t Have Coke.”  With already nothing going right in his life, Mark has just been fired for failing to complete an assignment on 14^th century Plague in Europe.  With perfectly predictable timing, the turning point arrives when Mark, troubled with insufficient funds for rent payment, has a “light bulb” moment at the bank: What if I tell the banker that I have more money in my account then I actually do…? 

 

Boom. Lying is invented. 

 

From here, Mark tactfully uses his revelation to his advantage (especially in respect to his romantic interest, Anna).  You can probably predict how the plot unfolds at this point, but to its credit, the film is still sufficiently supported by good acting, surprising cameos, slightly profound undertones and occasionally unforeseen gags the whole way through—not to mention a clever and witty Biblical twist. 

 

So, in the spirit of compulsive truth telling, The Invention of Lying was probably made on the budget of a television sitcom and due to this and possibly many other unrelated circumstances, it has many flaws.  But, in the spirit of quality humor and entertainment these flaws can be easily overlooked… honestly!