MOVIE REVIEW - The Invention Of Lying

The title of this movie suggests, at least to me that this should be a real fun movie. And man does it give it the ol' college try. But in the end, The Invention Of Lying falls a bit short.

I'm not going to shred this movie here, but I honestly feel many will go into this flick preparing for a real laugh fest, and won't get it. But what they will get is an honest movie, about being dishonest.

Ricky Gervais is certainly the quintessential "lovable loser" character in his movies. A bit portly, and straight-laced. He's always trying to lure the woman who's "out of his league," and in this movie it's Jennifer Garner. Mark (Gervais) and Anna (Garner) live in a world where no one can even grasp the concept of lying! Everything is told in absolute truths, and literal interpretations. And at the films outset, that's pretty funny. No one can tell or understand one lie.

But then the plot thickens. Mark somehow grasps the lying concept and tells a whopper that rocks the entire world. About the afterlife. He then uses his command of lying for his own interests and some of that is kind of funny. But that's where the trouble starts for this movie.

It can't decide if it's a comedy or something more. And it gets a bit off target. And frankly, you can see some scenes are designed for big laughs that just don't come, grinding it to a halt. At times it's a bit Saturday Night Live, and at times a whole bunch of Monty Python with it's dialogue heavy understated style. Gervais wrote and produced this movie, and for many he is an acquired taste. Some will love it. Others will go, "what?" Luckily, it's a tidy 90 minutes and we don't have to get out the hand basket. Overall, it's much better idea than movie. Lot's of cameo's too, Tina Fey, Jason Bateman, Rob Lowe, and Jonah Hill. All of them on screen for about a combined 10 minutes. Just so you know.

But on the bright side? Gervais is really a breath of fresh air. He is funny, lovable, sympathetic, and really fun to watch. Huge kudos too, to Jennifer Garner. She is wonderful as the sweet, naive, more than honest Anna. I though she was just terrific in this really off-beat role and movie. She hard not to like here.

The Invention Of Lying. This is not a bad night at the movies at all. But after while it runs out of ideas, the joke gets old and falls below what you were hoping for.