THE INVENTION OF LYING REVIEW

THE INVENTION OF LYING
Director: Ricky Gervais & Matthew Robinson
Cast: Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Rob Lowe
Screenplay: Ricky Gervais & Matthew Robinson
Running Time: 99 min
Rating: M
*/*****

IT'S A SHAME THAT GERVAIS COULDN'T INVENT SOME LAUGHS

The golden boy of comedy loses his shine with this debacle of a film, proving that he is indeed fallible.

In a world where there is no such thing as lying, down on his luck writer Mark Bellison (Gervais) discovers that he possesses the ability to do so. Bellison quickly discovers that he can utilise his new gift to change his life for the better.

Alot of Gervais's shtick revolves around making fun of the character he is playing. Whilst this may have produced comedic gold in previous outings such as The Office and Extras it plays to disastrous effect in The Invention Of Lying. Unlike previous Gervais creations, David Brent and Andy Millman, the character of Mark Bellison does not deserve the antagonistic attitudes or blatant humiliation he is constantly subjected to by friends, co-workers and even his mother. If Gervais intended the many insults afforded to nice guy Bellison to be humorous he was sadly mistaken as they just serve to leave a bad taste in your mouth. The romance in which the film centers around also feels shockingly off note as the object of Bellisons affections Anna (Garner) is terribly unlikeable. When she's not telling Bellison that he's short and fat with a stubbed nose and not attractive enough to procreate with, she's making fun of those inferior to her. In her defence she is forced to tell the truth as she sees it, but considering at one point she is contemplating entering a loveless marriage in order to produce genetically superior children, you have to question why exactly Bellison is desperate to be with her?

The concept of the movie may be original but it's fatally thin. Gervais couldn't even bother to come up with a reason as to how or why Bellison is suddenly able to lie, we are just supposed to take it for granted that he now can. There is really no plot to the film, merely a plethora of un-amusing set ups that play out like a bad episode of Saturday Night Live. Gervais and his co-writer Matthew Robinson also unsuccessfully try to make some kind of social comment about the superficiality of human nature and the contradictions of Religion that are not as clever or original as the writers obviously think they are.

Not even a stellar all star cast can elevate the enjoyment factor of this comedic dead zone. In their brief appearances Tina Fey and Jonah Hill seem to be nodding off in their roles, whilst Rob Lowe manages to make the allegedly charismatic Brad Kessler fatally uncharismatic. Meanwhile Jeffrey Tambor is wasted in a ho-hum role as Bellison's boss and leading lady Jennifer Garner fails to make her character Anna even remotely enjoyable to watch.

The only shining light in the film comes from brief cameo appearances by Edward Norton, Phillip Seymor Hoffman and Jason Bateman. It's not so much that their cameo's are particularly good, rather that they momentarily distract you from this ultra dull offering. If you are fan of Gervais you than may be able to suffer through this, if not save yourself the bother. ONE OUT OF FIVE STARS