The Invention Of Lying

Rating:

* * * *

Verdict:

An uneven effort, but better than your average romantic comedy.

A great idea from Ricky Gervais, the award winning creator of

The Office

, and his co-writer and co-director Matthew Robinson, but unfortunately

The Invention of Lying

doesn't quite fulfil its potential.

Gervais knows he doesn't have the physical attributes of a standard romantic comedy actor, so in order to bag a part he's written himself the perfect character, an average-looking, chubby loser called Mark Bellison.

If you think that's a bit harsh, it's nothing compared to how people speak to each other in this comedy. You see,

The Invention of Lying

is set in an alternate reality where the concept of lying hasn't been invented. Everyone speaks the absolute truth, which can make life pretty depressing when you are a single man in his 40s with no financial assets, who is about to be fired from his job and is, well, average looking. Just like Mark.

Everything changes for him when he discovers the ability to tell a lie. And in a world where every word is regarded as true he finds his new skill is a wonderful way to get rich, teach the world a fictitious thing or two, and get the attention of Anna McDoogles (Garner). This is a clever setup, with lots of scope for comedy, and there is some smart writing, with

Saturday Night Live

's Tina Fey and Louis C. J. turning up in cameo roles, as do Rob Lowe, Philip

Seymour Hoffman, Edward Norton and Jonah Hill.

It doesn't come together as you hope, though, and is light on sidesplitting comedy.

It is also light on romance. This wouldn't be so bad if the film had stuck to being a thought-provoking oddball comedy, but it gets sucked into the more predictable romantic comedy genre for its final act.

Cast:

Jennifer Garner, Ricky Gervais

Director:

Ricky Gervais, Matthew Robinson

Running Time:

99 mins

Rating:

M (sexual references)

Francesca Rudkin