Review of The Invention of Lying (2009) by Dougb. — 04 Oct 2009

A great premise is wasted on a script based on characters who, because they can't lie--are also idiots. The characters have no ability to govern their speech at all, and this singular gag gets replayed ad nauseum.

Jennifer Garner's character is a mean-spirited nitwit, and yet Gervais tells her that she is the sweetest, most thoughtful woman he has ever met. Based on what? The only reason she won't have sex with him is because he has "fat" genes.

Worse yet, the movie supposes that because no one can lie, there are no religions. You can see where that's going. The one church in the movie has a steeple and no cross, implying that Christ never lived, or that he did live and his being the messiah wasn't true and the lie was never spread.

Either way, it paints all religions as being invented by liars. Pretty bold these days considering how tolerant Muslims are with people who cast doubt on their faith. End result--not nearly as funny as it could be, and fairly insulting to anyone of faith to takes the time to connect the dots and catch the atheistic implications.