On his original BBC series The Office and then later on his HBO show Extras, Ricky Gervais created some legendary arias of discomfort, fearlessly pushing audiences to the edge of despair in the pursuit of deep, occasionally profound belly laughs. Watching The Invention of Lying squander its fool-proof premise in favor of stale rom-com clichés, one can’t help but wish a genius like Gervais had taken a crack at the screenplay.
What’s that you say? Ricky Gervais actually did write this film? Well, I haven’t been so confused since David Fincher made Benjamin Button.
In an alternate universe in which nobody can tell a lie—a rather brutal place where folks blurt out every unkind thought that crosses their mind—Gervais stars as a schlubby loser who one day magically discovers how to fib. The rest of the folks have no concept of dishonesty, so they can’t help but believe all his whoppers. What begins with a little bank fraud gets out of control when Ricky accidentally invents religion.
The stage is set for a blistering, heretical satire, but Gervais (along with co-screenwriter/co-director Matthew Robinson) turn tail and flee from their most provocative ideas. Instead, the focus shifts to a thunderously banal love triangle, in which our hero tries to woo boring Jennifer Garner away from Rob Lowe’s slick cad. Really? All the dazzling, limitless comedic potential here, and we’re stuck following that dumb formula waiting for the hot younger girl to wise up and learn to love the homely guy who wrote the movie?
Indifferently photographed and often quite poorly staged, The Invention of Lying is one of those movies in which every bit part is distractingly played by one of the director’s famous friends. Of course Tina Fey is his secretary, and the motorcycle cop with the funny moustache and awful Boston accent just happens to be Edward Norton. Philip Seymour Hoffman drops by for a line or two, and Jonah Hill hasn’t been in a movie for almost a month, so he’s here too.
I’m also still perplexed, not just because Gervais is lazy enough to end the movie with the moldy trope of interrupting a wedding—but also why does the church in which the scene takes place look so old, if our hero only just recently invented religion? Was anybody paying attention? D+
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1. Sean said... on Oct 7, 2009 at 10:28AM
“I was more perplexed as to why the officiator of the wedding was wearing a crucifix. I thought it might possibly be a representation of a man holding two pizza boxes, but it was too quick to tell. That'd be a nice touch, but that kind of subtlety seems unlikely given how the great concept had been buried in cliche by that point. I really expected better from Mr. Gervais.”
2. soybomb said... on Nov 29, 2009 at 12:53AM
“Now that I think about it, I believe we all had plenty of warning with the Extras Christmas Special and the fact that his character opted to sell out his ideas and talent for precious little reward.
So it goes.”