The Invention of Lying

To be honest, I absolutely love dirty, obnoxious, sarcastic comedies. Case in point, JAB and I watch Superbad or Forgetting Sarah Marshall nearly every time we pop in a DVD. Our day's communications often include some reference to said movies, with "No, Jeremy, I can't sell you any weed because I am at my place of work. You would know that because you called me at my place of work... MAHALO" as our favorite.

But every once in awhile, some good, clean (well, cleaner) fun is just what you needed. Enter The Invention of Lying. Written, directed, and starring Ricky Gervais, this comedy has his fingerprint all over it. Its comedy is wholly honest and everyday, just like The Office.

In The Invention of Lying, Gervais imagines a world where no one has ever lied. You would think, initially, that this would equate to a utopia of sorts, but no such luck. People are crude and just too honest. I would like to think that if we really couldn't lie, we would have a couple nicer of things to say. Nonetheless, the negativity works well against the earnestness of Gervais' character, Mark Bellison.

Mark, a screenplay writer of 1300s historical event films, first "invents" the lie when he is evicted from his home, and desperately needs money, which he easily swindles out of the teller. He tests his new found talent over and over, until he decides to uses it on Anna (Jennifer Garner), with whom he is hopelessly in love.

But the true pinnacle of the lie comes when he comforts his mother, who is dying and desperately afraid. He makes up a story about the afterlife so captivating that by the next afternoon the entire world awaits his insights. Mark then concocts a worldwide phenomenon of a pseudo-religion involving commandments on pizza boxes and "A Quiet Place to Think About the Man in the Sky." This aspect of the film lightly glosses over tough religious questions just enough to spark your interest but not enough to bog you down.

The lies catch up to Mark eventually, but not in a way that is as catastrophic as I imagined and not before he amasses fortune and fame. Along the way, hilarious guest stars make the movie even better: Jonah Hill is a depressed neighbor of Mark's who becomes his buddy, Edward Norton is a cop who gets off on getting people in trouble (literally). Jason Bateman is an aloof doctor who cares most about the cafeteria's special, and Rob Lowe is a narcissistic rival screenplay writer.

The only thing that bothered me a little bit was how shallow Anna was. Mark, a considerate, caring man, pines away for Anna, who proves herself to be consistently shallow. I wish she was more likable and perhaps less actress-pretty and more normal-pretty (a la Pam from The Office).

Bottom line? You'll laugh (and maybe cry a little), and it will make you remember why you love going to the movies in the first place.