Ricky Gervais is a brave and creative talent and this subversive, ultimately romantic film about the value of white lies certainly has its moments.
Comment
11/22/09
The Invention of Lying (2009)
56
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:155
Fresh:87
Rotten:68
Average Rating:5.9/10
Consensus: It doesn't quite follow through on its promise, and relies too heavily on shopworn romantic comedy tropes, but The Invention of Lying is uncommonly sly and funny.
Genre: Comedies
US Box Office: $18,098,091
Synopsis: From Ricky Gervais, the award-winning creator and star of the original BBC series "The Office" and HBO's "Extras," comes the new romantic comedy "The Invention of Lying." "The Invention of... [More]
Starring: Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Rob Lowe, Louis C.K.
Director: Ricky Gervais, Matthew Robinson
Reviews for The Invention of Lying
Top CriticThe premise allows the filmmakers latitude to invent a scenario that works as irony and satire about our modern world. It shows, humorously, how impossibly confronting it would be if we really didn't lie, flatter and smooth over our social interactions
11/20/09
Top CriticA brilliant and original concept, The Invention of Lying is witty, seriously funny and utterly charming. The trick to it all is that Gervais' alternate reality, where there is no deceit, flattery or fiction, is grounded solidly in a credible way
11/20/09
Top CriticIt's a shame that the air gets let out of this one so suddenly, as if The Invention of Lying's backbone gets ripped out of the film as the final act kicks into gear.
11/17/09
Top CriticThis entertaining and thought provoking movie ultimately urges the viewer to consider how important the truth is and where lies fit in to our lives.
10/01/09
Top CriticThere are cycles of inspiration and rebirth, but the barbed promise of the early going loses its way in choices aimed at sentimentality rather than, as Harvey Kurtzman memorably put it, humor in a jugular vein.
11/22/09
...becomes dizzyingly hilarious, mixed with genuine sympathy, while an amusing and subversive element grows slowly, beginning as fascinating and then stumbling into inevitability.
11/19/09
The star cameos in The Invention of Lying are non-stop, distracting, and always blatantly pointed out as if this were a Cannonball Run sequel.
11/09/09
It feels, in spirit, like a fable, in the mold of films like It's a Wonderful Life or Miracle on 34th Street. I just wish it were better.
10/31/09
"The Invention of Lying" is like "Groundhog Day," although not in the way it intends to be. Watching the film feels like you're reliving the same lame scenes over and over, powerless to change what happens in this profoundly disappointing comedy.
10/27/09
All the dazzling, limitless comedic potential here, and we're stuck waiting for the hot younger girl to wise up and learn to love the homely guy who wrote the movie?
10/27/09
Flaccid rom-com uplift and cut-rate snark
10/26/09
One of the best and most thought-provoking American comedies to come along in some considerable time.
10/25/09
"Fun!"
10/23/09
a terribly unwieldy vehicle built on an inherently funny premise that just can't sustain what Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson eventually want to heap on it
10/20/09
Ricky Gervais stars and directs and takes a good premise and some funny bits and tries to get philosophical, only to come up short in both laughs and depth.
10/11/09
I'll bemoan the ending forever (or until they change it on DVD), but right now I'm still wondering how a movie with this radical a subtext got made at all.
10/11/09
The film has two very, very good ideas, but doesn't fit them together well; while its laughs are only sporadic, and the romantic subplot falls generally flat.
10/11/09
For a self-avowed atheist, Ricky Gervais certainly focuses a lot on spirituality in his movies.
10/10/09
Like 'Life of Brian,' 'The Invention of Lying' pokes fun at religious beliefs. Too bad it fails to emphasize the fun.
10/09/09
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