I came across this title on IMDB and saw that the cast included Ricky Gervais, Louis CK and Jennifer Garner. Ricky and Louis being few of my favorite comedians, I was intrigued to watch the movie despite the okay-ish reviews.
So the idea of The Invention of Lying is appreciable and creative. It depicts a world where people are not familiar with “lying”. Sounds strange, doesn’t it? People believe everything a person says and Ricky Gervais somehow finds a way to lie; in other ways, he invents lying. He finds it very fascinating and starts experimenting with it.
While it is a curious topic and as audience, there was a lot of situations and encounters I’d have loved to see. But the movie was loosely based on the actual concept. It felt like the creator failed to grasp the idea of what would happen if nobody knew how to lie. They won’t be publicly saying what is in their hearts like it was shown in the movie (waiter welcomes the couple followed by a remark about the guy’s appearance and his job). And the pattern continues throughout. Throughout the movie I kept thinking that the script was written in poor understanding of an all-truth-telling society.
Don’t get me wrong. The film has some great moments. Some very emotional ones too. Great humor as well. I don’t know if I’m overthinking but I felt like this film somehow portrays the blindly following something, especially religion very realistically. That being said, it sort of felt poorly connected and ended on a very generic and predictable conclusion. And the whole movie seemed to lack energy. 6/10
Bonfire Lit 