Invention Of Lying, The (DVD)

As has earlier been stated this not a 5 star film, however the 1 star reviews are based on extremely ridiculous points, and need balancing out.

Firstly this film is a piece of fiction, and is set in a world where no one has ever had the ability to tell a lie. In this FICTIONAL WORLD it seems that the idea of God does not exist. At no point in this film does it say God does not exist, simply these people in this FICTIONAL WORLD don't know who he is. Ricky's character stumbles upon the ability to lie and comforts his dying mother on her death bed telling her she will go to heaven. Ricky's story is overheard and i'll leave that there for fear of giving away to much.

I find it really hard to understand how some religious people are offended by this films message. The films message is essentially lying is a good thing, a world without it would be harsh, absent of fiction and white lies. The film at no point states there is no God simply that this fictional world hasn't heard of him. It also doesn't suggest that this religion free world is better than our religious one.

Just to clear up what some people have said

"Where does the universe come from? The movie doesn't address this" - The keyword is movie - its not a Richard Dawkins documentary, back to the future doesn't go into the science! nor do any comedy films.

"What about Jesus...his life is simply ignored" - Yes because its a comedy, it could have looked at things like Jesus, but that's not very funny is it, and his followers are very very easily offended so best no go there.

"How would a society like that function, exactly?" - Films like this always have flaws, its a comedy film though!

Finally holding back on saying something IS A FORM OF LIE, people have commented saying that just because they can't lie why are they blunt, if someone smells and you don't say anything you are telling that person "everything's ok, nothing wrong with you" which is a lie.

Overall Ricky Gervais is responsible for The Office, Extras, The Ricky Gervais Show, Animals, Politics, Fame and compared to these its bad. However on its own as a comedy film, it's a decent effort, worth watching. Just remember it's not a Richard Dawkins documentary.

Don't let your beliefs ruin your enjoyment of this or any peice of fiction, you enjoyed the bible after all.

Well, what a furrore about a movie! This is a piece of work that Ricky (who I do not particularly like) and his team should be proud of; because it is entertaining. There are no hidden messages (or if there are we can ignore them), and the film should be enjoyed at face valiue!

being the type of person that can be painfully honest sometimes i found the film extremely amusing, Gervais does a great job portraying a nobody in a world where either you have to intelligent or your good looking to achieve anything i life, him being neither decides to give up until he wakes up one day and realise that he can say "something that wasn't" from there on he decides to change his life using lies, as good intentioned as he is with most of the lies he tells he soon comes to realise that lying can cause more problems than he expected.
there are a couple of great scenes, first time we meet Garner and how she says exactly what she thinks at every moment, the scene with his mother in hospital, his 10 commandments on pizza boxes and the "true" story of the black plague.
i did find some parts of the film where unnecessary and only made if slow down also the writers concept of truth seemed to be to say everything that was on your mind or everything you did without being asked what they was doing or thinking.

I bought this because I seen a trailer at the cinema and thought that looks really good, but i was quite disappointed when I watched it. After watching Ghost Town, Which I thought was fab, my expectations of this were, In fact, quite high. Worth a watch though

Starts off alright, and is quite entertaining watching people be absolutely truthful at all times. There's the odd funny moment. But after 20 minutes it totally runs out of steam, and the story-line goes AWOL. The characters aren't very well written or interesting - Ricky basically does his pathetic 'loser' character again, and Jennifer Garner's character is just dull, vain and shallow. Is this what Ricky thinks women are really like? Judging by the last scene, he does seem to have a bit of an old-fashioned view of the 'ideal woman'.

Also, I really wasnt expecting mawkish sentimentality from Gervais! Parts of the film were painful to watch, they were so corny. At one point he discovers lying can make people happy, so he floats around with a smug look on his face, whispering lies into the ears of the homeless and the elderly. Vomit.

At times this film was extremely self-indulgent and soapboxy. There's a painfully uncomfortable scene (and not in a good way) when Ricky's character invents stories about an afterlife to comfort his dying mother. He then goes on to invent religion for that world - 'There's an old man in the sky who controls everything you do.' I can see what he was trying to say, but it just felt like ranting - it seemed mean, instead of funny. I think if you're going to criticize religion, you've got to be funny about it, or say something new or interesting, or you're just as annoying as a Jehovah's Witness on your doorstep.

Perhaps even more tedious, was the constant theme of people (ie. Ricky Gervais) being judged on their looks. I imagine living and working in LA can do this to a person, but Ricky seems OBSESSED. Yes we KNOW you are chubby and snub-nosed - nobody cares!
Also kind of pointless were the cameos from numerous famous actors - it just felt like showing off. I enjoyed 'Ghost Town', but this wasn't anywhere near as good. I think Ricky can be funny and original, but probably making movies isn't one of his talents.