If I told you there was an ensemble movie starring Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Rob Lowe, and Jonah Hill, with bit parts from Tina Fey, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Guest, Jeffrey Tambor, Ed Norton, and Jason Bateman that only made slightly under $20 million at the box office, would you believe me? Well, if this world were anything like the one in The Invention of Lying, you would have to because it's criminally true.
Making his directoral debut, Gervais stars as a man, Mark, recently fired from a job he admittedly isn't very good at, who figures out how to not tell the truth, something no one else in the world has ever not been able to do before. Everyone in this bizarre world says what they think and accept what others say because, well, no one can say anything that isn't correct. If your baby is fat and someone tells you so, it must be true, and on some level you already knew it. Dates can end before they even begin with one party stating that the "relationship" will go nowhere because of the other party's inadequate finances or receding hairline genetics.
By telling a few small untruths solely to make those around him feel better, Mark ends up with the world in the palm of his hand as everyone - even those still calling him a loser - hold what he has said to be the truth. The only thing he can't get is, of course, the girl of his dreams. A blend of Gervais humor with a mashing of many great comedic styles, the film takes many twists and never pauses long enough to take things too seriously yet stays true to its deeper meaning throughout.
My only hope for this film is that it becomes what many movie house duds become: cult classics. Don't let this one end up in the Walmart bargin bin!
Sergio del Limónar
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