The tagline for The Invention of Lying “In a world where everyone can only tell the truth…this guy can lie,” perfectly encapsulates this movie’s silly premise. Ricky Gervais who directs and stars in this wannabe Office parody may be able to lie, but his attempts at humor are nothing short of unamusing. Ultimately - the occasionally sharp script disappoints as the interminable story line and offensive religious jokes put viewers asleep after only half an hour.

In the beginning, Mark Bellison, the protagonist, is an average loser who is hated by his fellow employees, gets fired from his job and can’t seem to find a girlfriend. The only difference is that in his world there are no lies; this language of honesty is very blunt, forward, and direct. To some extent, this frank language and behavior can be very comical, but after 30 minutes, it sounds trite. Originally, the jokes are very uplifting; they provide the viewer with short-term bliss.  The first lie - a refreshing change of pace from the blunt honesty of the other characters - in this world comes after Mark loses his job. When Mark is unable to pay for his rent, he lies, for the first time, about the amount of money in his bank account by telling the bank to withdraw a fictitious, excessive amount of money.  After this initial lie, Mark cannot stop.

Eventually Mark not only realizes that he has the power to lie, but that this power is a curse that delivers Mark much regret and responsibility.  Here, the plot becomes extremely predictable as Mark lies more and grows to regret it.  The viewer is also able to foresee Mark’s love interest, Anna McDoogles (Jennifer Garner) .  His love for Anna is not reciprocated as she is in search of her perfect genetic match that will provide her with the beautiful children she has always wanted.  Over time, Anna recognizes that her love for Mark is far more important than her genetic match.  On the other hand, Mark becomes a huge success at work because he is able to make up new stories that are not true, but are far more interesting. As Mark tries to explain his ability to lie to his friends, he becomes irritated with their lack of understanding.  Despite the possibilities of this storyline, only the first half hour of the film has potential to be a hilarious story, while the rest of the movie dramatically falls downhill. The story seems to drag on about his love interest and his progress at work and his mother dying and his frustration with the world and his supposedly good deeds through lying.  Yawn.   

With well-known actors Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, and Tina Fey, you would think The Invention of Lying would have some prospective. Even though the story line is clever, the somewhat sacrilegious jokes take away from this wit as Mark Bellison becomes the symbol of Moses possessing the ‘Ten Commandments’ on pizza boxes. An open atheist, Gervais makes jokes out of religion in a lot of his comic skits including this movie. His portrayal of Moses and the Ten Commandments, another unamusing joke, portrays his criticism of all religions: just another good lie. Not only are these jokes about ‘the man in the sky’ unamusing, but also very disrespectful to those who do believe in such things.

Unfortunately, in a world of comedies…this guy isn’t funny.   The Invention of Lying leaves the audience disappointed with the film’s dull plot. If you have 2 hours to waste, $10 to throw away, and a lot of patience, this unsuccessful comedy is right for you. No lie.