The Invention of Lying (2009)
Directed by Ricky Gervais
Set in a world where the concept of lying doesn't exist, a loser changes his lot when he invents lying and uses it to get ahead.
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5 films that influenced The Invention of Lying
What critics say influenced The Invention of Lying
His account of the glorious afterlife awaiting his dying mother is overheard, and before you can say ''Life of Brian'', Mark is seen as a messiah with all-seeing powers.
On the verge of becoming a modern-dress Life Of Brian, it instead settles for My Alternate Universe Best Friend’s Wedding in a final act given over to Gervais’ attempts to win Garner’s heart without telling a lie.
Allegorical elements add some intriguing subtext (although Monty Python addressed the same issues with Life of Brian 30 years ago), but Gervais and Robinson have a too-light touch, centring on set pieces that are goofy and amusing but don't dip too far beneath the surface.
At any rate, Mark's transformation into a messiah too closely recalls Monty Python's "Life of Brian," a far sharper comedy.
The film takes off with all pistons firing, fusing a more accessible Idiocracy with the absurdity of TheLife of Brian.
This group debate about ethics is the film's best scene by far, reminiscent of Monty Python's Life of Brian or some of George Carlin's classic atheist rants.
There is a mightily powerful and potent satire to be made from such elements, and some of the best films of the last 20 years tackled the same or similar notions of a parallel, alternate world with warmth, humour and insight – Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day (1993), Gary Ross’ Pleasantville (1998), Michel Poulette’s French/Canadian hit Louis XIX, le roi des ondes (1994) and Peter Weir’s The Truman Show (1998) immediately spring to mind.
The creator of The Office and Extras creates his own hilarious variation on Pleasantville.
There is a mightily powerful and potent satire to be made from such elements, and some of the best films of the last 20 years tackled the same or similar notions of a parallel, alternate world with warmth, humour and insight – Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day (1993), Gary Ross’ Pleasantville (1998), Michel Poulette’s French/Canadian hit Louis XIX, le roi des ondes (1994) and Peter Weir’s The Truman Show (1998) immediately spring to mind.
Strangely enough, Jim Carrey comes to mind – he’s involved himself on both sides (think The Truman Show and Liar Liar).
Invention - a mash-up of two Jim Carrey comedies, "Liar Liar" and "Bruce Almighty" - flirts with being a one-gag pony.
"The Invention of Lying" turns out to be "Bruce Almighty" for atheists.
Fans hoping for some of Gervais� The Office wit will find themselves staring at an agnostic version of Bruce Almighty, scratching their heads until they draw blood.
At times, it feels as if Gervais has made a freethinker Lecture Film of his own, as two-dimensional in its smug secularism as Bruce Almighty was in its vacation Bible-school pandering.
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He's also the fellow who starred in "Ghost Town" (2008) as an unpleasant dentist who could suddenly see restless spirits all around him, and who the previous year appeared in "Stardust" as a shady, fast-talking fence.