The Invention of Lying Reviews - Portrait Reviews

The Invention of Lying
Review by: Lindsey


In a world where everyone tells the truth, and nothing but the truth. This movie revolves around a screenwriter, Mark Bellison (Ricky Gervais), who recently got fired from his job making lecture films and needed $800 to pay his rent right away. He found a way to lie after going to the bank to withdraw $500 more than what he actually had in his account. He started telling different lies, and got away with them every time. Eventually, he made up a story about a certain "man in the sky", which brought him fame and fortune. But even that couldn't get him the woman he wanted: Anna McDoogles (Jennifer Garner), who thought she was destined to be with his nemesis, Brad Kessler (Rob Lowe).

I was really looking forward to this movie all month long, and I did not regret seeing it at all. I did get a lot of good laughs out of this. But I felt like the producer tackled the concept of a parallel world too lightly, which led to a lot of obvious flaws.

I thought the cast choice was great, but the actors disappointed me a little bit. Ricky Gervais and Jennifer Garner did a pretty good job in this movie. A lot of people might say that it was ridiculous that there was a little love story between the two, but I'd say that it's for the purpose of irony.

Tina Fey was falling short of her expectations. This is a comedy, which should be perfect for her as she is a well-known comedian. But no. She had some of the really good lines, but delivered them in an almost-monotone way, and didn't get a lot of laughter from the audience.

Rob Lowe, who is my favorite actors and one of the reasons why I wanted to see the movie in the first place, did quite well. I think he could've done a better job, though. His lines were pretty hilarious at first. But by the end of the movie, it was really lame when he kept saying how "important" he was.

I thought the movie had a lot of funny parts, though. Like the fact that instead of making fiction films, they made lecture films. Or that after his friend was busted for DUI, all Mark needed to say was that "he's not drunk" and the police believed him right away. A lot of people might be sensitive toward the fact that religion was being made fun of in the film, but I found it hilarious.

All in all, "The Invention of Lying" was a good movie, though not as good as I thought. It was made of a lot of talented actors, but fell short of expectations. It's basically one of those movies that you watch just for some good laughs.