Review of The Invention of Lying (2009) by Chads — 05 Oct 2009

Protest this. Apologies all around for Carl Reiner("Oh, God!), Martin Scorsese("The Last Temptation of Christ"), and Kevin Smith("Dogma"). Their own subversive takes on the Almighty, which motivated church groups to stage boycotts at public venues exhibiting these supposedly inflammatory movies, at least acknowledged His existence.

"The Invention of Lying" is a whole different animal. Somebody finally had the chutzpah to make a film that's deserving of revile from God-fearing protesters. Comedy can sometimes be ruthless, and the jokes don't get more ruthless than the scene where Mark(Ricky Gervais), the world's first prophet, uses an ephemeral object to put the finishing touch on his idealistic lies.

Not only does "The Invention of Lying" showcase Mark as Moses, it also has the screenwriter(in the film's best joke, the writer is "God" on any movie production) taking on the guise of Jesus.

(***SPOILER ALERT***) Since the religious doctrine gets attached to pizza boxes, disposability is intimated, as if Christianity was an idea that was meant to be thrown away. Depending on who you are, a scene where Mark preaches to the masses while still in his long hair and white robe, would have either electrified, or horrified you, had the filmmaker decided to go for the kill shot.

Controversial as "The Invention of Lying" purports to be, the filmmaker does draw the line on irrevocable heresy. (Admittedly, there is SOME heresy.) To kill time, there's a monotonous romantic subplot(with a woman who seems to be pro-eugenics) and one-note extapolations of the film industry, which helps soften the attempt made by the filmmaker to assassinate your faith.