Invention Of Lying | Review by Matt R.
Posted by Greg Weinstein | Filed under Culture, Film
As long as there have been women, men have been lying. But not me. The only lying I would do is in the bed with you.
More on the Pharcyde, uh, flip side.
Ricky Gervais is a funny motherfucker. The British Office blows away its American counterpart. You don’t need to go much further than David Bowie singing “Pathetic Little Fat Man” to see that Extras is fantastic. And the podcast has thankfully introduced the world to the genius of Karl Pilkington and his diary. So naturally I’m going to see any film written and directed by this guy.
The movie starts off with some fantastic dialogue. All the things that people politely refrain from saying in their everyday lives, just comes spewing out. It’s not so much as people don’t know how to lie, but that they stream of consciousnessly spew the truth. For example, Jennifer Garner answers the door to a blind date and admits that she’s just been masturbating. She wasn’t asked what she was up to, or even “were you just masturbating? She just figures she’ll throw that out there, like an elderly woman wandering the halls of your grandparent’s retirement complex.
Necessity being the mother of invention that it is, lying arrives when David Brent is fired from his job and can’t afford rent. Presumably he could have just told his landlord that he had already paid him. This would make as much sense as the bank clerk believing that he is telling the truth about his account balance being higher than it truly is and the computer being incorrect. Side note, it’s funny how in a world without lies, the only entertainment being produced is documentaries that are read and not performed. Very clever. Now, back to the plot holes.
In order to test out his new found powers, Andy Millman tries out some lies on his best friend, Louis C.K. and a great bartending cameo by Philip Seymour Hoffman. He decides to try and trick A.D.A Alexadra Cabot from L&O: SVU into sleeping with him, but backs out at the last minute because he is a good person. I agree with his decision. I’d much rather trick A.D.A. Casey Novak into sleeping with me. She always seems so angry in court and that’s my bag baby.
The rest of the movie gets very ambitious. When Dr. McPhee’s mother is about to die, he makes up a version of heaven that sets the world on its ear. Before that, they were positive that you get stuck in eternal nothingness after you die. Dr. Jason Bateman overhears and soon the word is spread about this guy’s ability to talk to “The Man in the Sky.” If he was going to lie to his mother, he could have just told her she wasn’t going to die. Then she wouldn’t even know it was coming until it was over. Like when you promise to warn a girl, but don’t. The movie loses its focus once it starts down this religious path.
Jennifer Garner is pretty adorable. But the movie never really gets back on track. The love story continues to draw itself out, but Rob Lowe is so unlikeable (and funny at it) that you know he can’t end up with the girl.
I’m a huge fan, so I was let down. But it did have funny moments. I’d watch it again on DVD. Unless an old Chevy Chase movie is on TV. Overall, 3 out of 5 horrible mansions I was thinking of.
