The Invention of Lying takes place in an alternate universe where humans have not developed the ability to lie
As he readily admits, Ricky Gervais has never been the most svelte of actors, or the most square-jawed, or … well, the most pleasing to the eye.
In fact, everybody in Gervais’ latest film, The Invention of Lying, strides right up to his character’s face and, for 100 minutes, bitingly informs him of these inadequacies.
No, the film is not simply an extended version of the infamous Extras sketch in which David Bowie leads a bar in singing along to the chorus “little fat man with the pug-nosed face.” By contrast, the world in The Invention of Lying is based not on mean put-downs, but simply expressing the truth, as brutal as it may be.
At first, the film is an extremely amusing exercise in masochism. Love interest Anna McDoogles (Jennifer Garner, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past) immediately informs Mark Bellison (Gervais) she is very “pessimistic about [their] date tonight” because he lacks looks, money and class. On a lighter note, she casually informs him of her masturbatory habits before cutting his already flagging confidence down.
Bellison’s situation at work is even more pathetic. Since all fiction is glorified lying, the only forms of entertainment in Bellison’s world are accounts of historical events read by famous actors. He, however, is one of the least successful screenwriters at his firm due to his work on The 13th Century, a screenplay about the black plague. His lack of success truly cements his near-permanent status as “a loser,” as handsome douchebag rival Brad Kessler (Rob Lowe, Thank You for Smoking) points out.
His boss Anthony (Jeffrey Tambor, The Hangover) apparently agrees and promptly fires him. This actually occurs after his secretary (Tina Fey, 30 Rock) crushes any hope of Bellison retaining his job and forwards an unflinchingly dismissive e-mail from Anna to the entire office for a laugh. One gets the impression Gervais only calls in his A-list friends to unload insults on him in the guise of establishing character.
When faced with eviction, Bellison goes into a sort of fight-or-flight mode. Mysterious chemicals in his brain react, and he tells a lie — intentionally misstating his bank balance.
This monumental event is really only a stepping stone to the pinnacle of lies: religion. Faced with his mother’s death in “A Sad Place for Hopeless Old People” (a nursing home), Bellison comforts her on her deathbed with his newfound power. He invents a place in the sky to go after you die. Soon, the entire world, taking him at his word, wants to know about the “man in the sky” and viola, a prophet is created.
It’s a daring, cheeky move and Gervais squeezes an exceptional amount of comedic mileage out of it, even if a lot of the ideas are recycled from his stand-up work.
What’s really brave, though, is that he takes the hammer to his own fat jokes. Even after his success and money from being the man in the sky’s liaison, Anna still refuses to marry Bellison. She wants to find a more suitable genetic match and not have “little, fat, snub-nosed kids.” Predictably, her attitude changes once she sees a lonely fat child being bullied.
This might seem like a neat little reversal of character, but it is far more. This is a high-concept comedy, after all, and Gervais is keying us back to the beginning in which the audience was, in a way, complicit in the demonizing of the physically unattractive by laughing at Bellison.
There is also a bit of metaphysical tension: Nothing in The Invention of Lying would work without knowledge of our world. It’s a funhouse mirror in which to view our own biases, fears, beliefs and even senses of humor.
Is it a mainstream comedy or an experimental short expanded to the brim with the perfectly timed jokes of a comedy master in peak form? Unlike virtually every modern-day comedy, there is no easy answer, no lesson to parse and no simple moralism to extract. All of this makes The Invention of Lying one of the most deftly made films of the year. Maybe Gervais can talk to the man in the sky after all.
vmain13@umdbk.com
RATING: 4.5 out of 5 Stars
