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Hello, and welcome to an honest review of The Invention of Lying, an alleged comedy by Ricky Gervais, best known for his work on the BBC version of The Office.           We begin with voiceover, in which we learn the premise of the story. Now, you know things are amiss when a movie begins with voiceover to explain the premise, especially when that premise is already explained by the movie title. Gervais may as well have started with, "Hey, out there - it's me, Ricky, hi - um, I didn't really want to bother trying to incorporate the premise into my screenplay, so here it is. It's another Earth, just like this one, but everyone always tells the truth. It's an awful place and- oh, wait - there I am on the screen now... keep in mind it's only my first scene, so, even though you may be tempted, don't judge anything yet. Oh, and you'll like this - I throw in a snippet of ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky" during a montage in the third act. Try your best to look forward to that and keep your chin up - only 96 minutes to go!"         What follows are awkward lines such as, "You're fat", "Oh, your baby is so ugly", and "I was just masterbating". In the first 3 minutes it becomes apparent that this isn't a world where people always tell the truth so much as it is a world where people don't possess that little internal filter commonly known as "tact". Hey, there's a better title - World Without Tact! You would think that hilarious comedy would ensue from people saying embarrassing things to each other, but you would be wrong. The best joke is actually a sight gag involving a bus-side advertisement for Pepsi, which is heralded as the drink for "when they don't have Coke". Okay, I have to give them that one - both funny and true.          Gervais, who plays a chubby little loser (his words!) named Mark Bellison, comes to find that he can lie and discovers the great power of saying what isn't. Misguided as that is, it makes for a pleasant half hour or so of Mark telling little white lies to help people and make the world a better place, and lying to further his own goals. Then, with his loving mother on her deathbed, he tells of the wonderful place she would go after death, a place where all her friends would be, and where she would live in joy and happiness for eternity. The hospital staff overhears, and word quickly gets out. The chubby little loser has invented heaven.         Cue a snowball effect, with Mark writing the "10 Rules" on the back of two pizza boxes, rules that must be followed to reach the good place after death. Follow them, or you go to the bad place. He also tells the masses about the great Man in the Sky who controls all things. Of course, people soon start blaming the Man in the Sky for everything that goes wrong in the world, and Mark becomes Earth's first and only prophet. By the end of the story, Mark must come clean and admit that the Man in the Sky doesn't really exist.         Surprise! No clue in the adverts that this was a message movie, eh? In fact, Gervais seems to have two messages to preach. First, that a world of truth would be really lame. Second, that God is a lie. No morality play. No uplifting ending. Just that life is meaningless and then you die. Wow, when Mr. Gervais gets to the place he's headed for after death, I wonder what he'll say in his own defense... "The Devil made me do it"?  How true indeed!

The Invention of Lying

Directed By:  Ricky Gervais & Matthew Robinson Written By:  Ricky Gervais & Matthew Robinson Starring:  Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Jonah Hill, Jeffery Tambor, Rob Lowe, Tina Fey MPAA:  Rated PG-13 for language including some sexual material and a drug reference

A.J's Rating: Zero Atheist Stars

Review published November 2, 2009