If everybody told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, wouldn’t the world be a much better place? I could say yes, except I’d be lying. We don’t realise how many lies we are exposed to everyday, how many half-truths we tell, how many (honest) remarks we keep to ourselves. Or maybe you do. I didn’t. Not until I watched The Invention of Lying.
The story revolves around a not-so-successful writer named Mark Bellison – played by Ricky Gervais who also wrote and directed this film – and his humdrum existence in a world where nobody lies. More than that, they seem to enjoy offering totally unsolicited albeit truthful bits of information so it might be more a case of not having filters than breathtaking honesty. Anyway, Mark seems set for a life of loser-hood when one desperate day, lightning strikes and he tells a lie. Then another. And another. And you can probably see where this is going.
Ricky is joined by Tina Fey, Jonah Hill and Rob Lowe, all actors who are known to be funny, and Jennifer Garner, who I never quite associated with comedy. For the religious types, there’s even a little parody on God, Moses and the Ten Commandments (hilarious stuff!), although if you are overly religious I suppose you might find that – and the fact that I called you “overly religious” – a little offensive.
Honestly, I’d never heard of this 2009 film until a couple of months ago. For an entertainment writer, that’s rather embarrassing. But I’m going to make up for it now by telling you how much I love it. The premise is original, the script is brilliant, the cast is lovable and Ricky isn’t annoying at all. It’s the kind of movie I wish I have the brains to come up with. It also doesn’t have any guns, nothing blows up and nobody even so much as breaks into a trot. Which explains why this film never made it to Malaysia.
I can’t remember how but I stumbled across this clip of Rob talking about the film (among other things) on Ellen. And because I love them both, here it is:
Verdict: A-
