Movie Review: The Invention Of Lying
There's something about Ricky Gervais I've always liked. I'm not sure what it is, but I find him to be charming. I'll overlook the fact that the man is an atheist and I've seen him stir the pot on Twitter. He seems to love tormenting Christians. To be fair, some of them make it easy to want to pick on them, but still...
I bought a movie of his a couple years ago called The Invention Of Lying and never actually got around to watching it. I have a few DVD's I have yet to watch, and I finally watched this one last night. Ricky's character lives in a world where mankind has no ability to lie. They don't even have a word for it.
It seems like a silly idea, even more so when you see that not lying apparently makes most of the people heartless jerks too. Just because you don't know how to lie doesn't mean you don't know when the truth is hurtful. If you're not being asked an opinion, why offer it? In the movie, it's done to show how honest people are with each other.
Ricky's character is a self admitted loser. He knows he's about to get fired, and somebody set him up on a date with this beautiful woman who rejoices in telling him how out of her league he is. His character finally gets fired from his job as a script writer for what passes as movies in that reality. 'Basically a news guy reading stories of history.
Then, he finds out that his landlord wants all of his rent money or he can get out the next day. This is where the first lie comes in. As he goes in to draw out his $300 to get a truck to haul his stuff from his apartment, the teller lets him know that the computer is down. She will gladly give him the money if he tells her how much. Knowing he needs more for rent, he tells her $800.
What's funny is the computer comes back on and says he only has $300, but she takes his word over the computer. Nobody knows how to lie, you see. From there, he does a series of things to make himself rich, get his job back and become a famous script writer and even helps others. But, he won't lie to the woman he loves. He wants her heart the honest way.
One day at the hospital, his mother is about to die, and he tells her a lie to comfort her. Apparently, nobody believes in God in that time line, so he starts making up a story about the place she will go to when she dies. The doctor hears this and wants to know more. He ends up creating a religion similar to Christianity and is seen as somebody who speaks to God.
I'm sure Christians will be annoyed with that idea. I sort of doubt that nobody would believe in God or an afterlife just because lying didn't exist in that world. Lying and faith are two different things. Since Ricky was one of the writers, I know what he was trying to do here.
However, his faith that there is no God is no different than a Christian's faith in their story of God. None of us know. Our opinions are based of faith. Atheists claim some sort of high ground based on the idea that they can't see God so God doesn't exist. I can't see air, but it certainly exists. I breathe it ever day.
I enjoyed this movie. It was funny, and I don't think you have to be an atheist to get the humor. It might be off putting to those of faith. The other thing is once he figured out how to lie, others would too. It's like the idea that the same thing gets invented at the same time all around the world. Once the idea is out there, others can access it and understand it.
In the midst of the spiritual and philosophical concepts of the movie is a nice little love story. He could easily lie to her and win he over, but he won't do that. So, does he get the girl? That's something you'll have to see for yourself.
Trailer For The Invention Of Lying:
