The Invention of Lying

Once upon a time in a place far, far from our crime-ridden world of deception, there was a land where every human being was unable to tell a lie. In this land, everyone said exactly what was on their mind. Men, if you’re guilty of complaining about what is really on a woman’s mind, women in this world never miss a beat on telling you forthright what she is thinking. Also in this world, everyone falls in line nicely because they all have no hopes for the future and willingly accept their drudgingly mediocre lives. Wow, isn’t that just a romanticized fairy tale you want to jump right into? Because after watching “The Invention of Lying,” I don’t think I would ever willingly choose to live in a world without fabrication and imagination; give me a world full of lies any day. And if this hypothetical place that is depicted had any correlative aspects to a true world, it would be a place of boredom and blatant scrutiny.

Ricky Gervais plays Mark Bellison who, as we are incessantly told, is chubby and snub-nosed. In this world without lies, it is understood that every person has their place. Beautiful women can only be with gorgeous men because it is the only logical choice when considering procreation and constructing the most aesthetically beautiful and physically elite children. It is Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” to the max when Mark’s egotistical, ostentatious rival Brad Kessler, played by Rob Lowe, is obviously a better match for Jennifer Garner’s character Anna while Mark is most definitely mismatched with Anna considering she is way out of his league. This fact is reiterated when she and everyone else who knows Mark continuously reminds him of how much of a fat loser he is. It is interesting to note that it is just acceptable to treat everyone like trash and, in return, no one takes offense to what is said. I know if I were told I was a fat, ugly loser, I would definitely be offended. Talk about a confidence booster.

It seems that people in this world without lies not only are obligated to tell the truth, but takes it a step further when they blatantly spurt out anything and everything that is on their mind. It is as if everyone in this film has tourettes with their lack of tact and callous aloofness. Also, it is common with people like Anna and Brad to be shallow and narcissistic when they are always socially fortified in devaluing people who don’t physically look like they do – people like Mark.

But everything changes when Mark becomes enlightened and decides to consciously deny the norm and formulate a fictitious truth – in other words, the birth of the first lie. Mark feels like a genius and uses his new-found ability to get ahead in the world. With lie after lie, Mark becomes rich and famous in hopes that his status will change the way Anna perceives his mate eligibility. While Mark makes many people happy when learning that “A little white lie never hurt anyone,” he also learns that a silver tongue will inevitably get you in to trouble when he tells his mother on her death bed that there is life after death. In his attempts to put his mother at ease when she is frightened to enter a world of nothingness after death, he tells her that she will actually enter a world of joy, where she will be in her favorite place, living in a mansion and will be surrounded by all those who she loved in life. Essentially Mark “lies” about heaven. With this information, the nurses and doctors overhear this new-found knowledge which no one has ever heard before and spread it to the world. Obviously Mark is bombarded with questions which Mark then decides to answer with ten more “lies.” He essentially invents theology, suggesting that Christianity – or religion in general – is based solely on the fabrication of those who have the charisma to persuade the masses. It’s a little unnerving how “The Invention of Lying” has twisted religion into a satirical mass of fiction – ultimately suggesting that it is ridiculous to put your faith in something that is based off of the imagination of man.

Ultimately, “The Invention of Lying” was dull and repetitive. The blatant rudeness was overdone and the narcissistic people only focusing on appearance and nothing else was aggravating. The fact that everyone was shallow and directionless was irritating and the issue of religion grates on the nerves rather than amuses or enlightens – if that was indeed the purpose. In sum, “The Invention of Lying” is an abhorrent vexation which affords a few laughs but not nearly enough to make it worth the watch.