The Invention Of Lying

The Invention Of Lying, starring Ricky Gervais, is a film that was released in October of 2009. It delves into the fantasy genre, asking the question "What if there was no such thing as a lie?"
The immediate answer is, as it was for me, "Well that would be great. In a world with only truth, things would be much easier." While this is true, the opening scene also shows how hurtful the truth can be. Ricky Gervais stars as Mark Bellison who is an overweight film writer who is trying to get a date with Jennifer Garner's character, Anna McDoogles. Anna is on the phone with her mother when she actually first sees Mark. Anna immediately expresses her disappointment with Mark's appearance. This sets the tone for the rest of the movie. Anna is not attracted to Mark and doesn't plan on starting a relationship with him because of this. The overall opinion of everyone in the film is that marriage should only be done to provide both partners with favorable offspring (good looking children) and Mark's genes won't provide that for Anna.
Mark, as I briefly mentioned earlier, is a film writer. Don't think of this as writing films that you or I may see. Because there is no lying, there are no tall tales, no myths, no legends, and no films of the sort. Instead, films are shot where one single actor sits and retells a story of some historical happening. Mark is unsuccessful at his job, mostly due to the fact that the period of time he has been assigned to cover also happens to be the time when the Bubonic Plague was at it's worst.
Throughout the film, there are small cameo parts by big name actors, including Tina Fey who plays Mark's secretary, Jeffrey Tambour, his boss, Rob Lowe, his rival coworker, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the bartender. There are more, but we'll cover them when we get to their small parts in the plot.
Mark Bellison is able to tell a lie shortly into the film and it confuses him as to how he "can say something that isn't". He uses this to better his own life, in ways such as writing a story that is completely made up to get ahead in his career. This gains him fame and money. Before all that, but immediately after the first lie, he goes to Jim the bartender and his friend Greg (played by Louis C.K.). He tries to explain to them what happened, and tries to even demonstrate by telling them false things about his life. ("I invented the bicycle" "I love your work" "I'm a German astronaut" "When's your launch date?")
In a world without lies, there is no such thing as false. Without false, you would not need the opposite, truth. While the concept of truth is there and everyone is always expressing it, the word truth is not, which is why it's hard for Mark to express what happened.
Mark eventually is in a jam as the city, nation, and world is asking how he knows things they do not. Sadly this is where the film takes a turn for the worse.
The film is now something that's more up to par with Bill Maher's views than a lighthearted tale. Mark makes up yet more lies and tells the world that a "Man in the sky" is telling him things. The people ask him questions about the Man in the sky and he has to make up more lies about Him. After a while, (since there are no lies to the rest of the population) everyone believes Mark and they form a religion. (Christianity, catholocism, call it what you will.)
The film began in such a funny manner that this is a complete curveball. It actually angers me. I'm not saying that I believe in a religion, but to so boldly say that all religion is just a story that someone made up because they could is insensitive, immoral, and plain rude. Even if it is your opinion that all things religious are false, please take into consideration that they are something that millions of others believe in and hold closely to who they are.
Maybe I'm taking this too heavily and I should just sit back and enjoy the film for what it was. But after that turn of events the film lost it's fun tone and became a serious drama. It tried to regain the initial lightheatedness but it never really did. It felt forced after the shift.
If this movie could be split into two separate movies with similar plots but you took them separately into the tones they were in, I think that you would have two very good films. But as it stands right now, the film just seems like it's trying to mend the two together.
I wouldn't suggest this film to everyone. It's full of British humor, which is very subtle, and a heavy religious undertone. If you'd like to check it out I'd say go ahead but don't pay too much for a rental. Try to find it online or somewhere that rents free movies first.
At last I'll make a judgment on a scale of 1 to 10. Because of the heavy religious undertone it loses points. But also the first of the film is strong, funny, and very expository of the characters without that exposition be all dialogue. This film gets a 6.5/10.