Totally agree... awful film.
you walk, i'll run, i'll follow right behind you.
It's a great idea, but it's not an idea to build a movie around. It's an idea that should have been used on a sketch comedy show on a recurring basis, not one which you'd have to sit through for 2 hours. If they had just presented the basic concept in a different format, it could've been really successful- unfortunately, it wasn't.
Well, I liked it and thought it was very good.
Er...Why? I don't mean to insult you, but if you could explain why it was so good, it'd give your comment more validity.
"Whoa" Keanu Reeves
Well, I disliked and thought it was very bad.
you walk, i'll run, i'll follow right behind you.
Well I for one thought it was a funny, good movie. Was the premise a little overdone at times, did it maybe get a BIT heavy-handed with the "no lying = saying everything you think instantly" schtick? Maybe. But you're going in to see a movie where one man spontaneously develops the ability to lie.. And he's the *only one*. If you're worrying about base ideas, you're in the wrong theater.
I thought it was a hilarious light-hearted movie, whether or not it was well made is irrelevant to me from a subjective point of view as I enjoyed it either way. Was it good, generally? I say that if you keep the Belisarios maxim in mind then it is excellent, if not, then it's a very simple movie with emphasis on the gags and pretty much nothing else.
The reason this film may or may not work depends entirely on how serious you take it. The concept of comedy is to take something and exaggerate it to such ridiculous extremes that no one can take it seriously, and if was not ridiculous enough for you then you might still take it seriously, and miss the comedy of it. It's true that if you actually think about some of the ways this world would work in this film, the amount of Fridge Logic is gonna piss you off, but you're not supposed to think about it, or at least not that hard. Such as it is with all satire.
There comes a time when one must decide: should I set that on fire, or not?
Ricky Gervais is an atheist.
That oughta help you understand it a bit more.
People who just complain get on my nerves. You're not supposed to take it that seriously. It's a comedy, a silly little movie based around a concept, a what if scenario. I'm sorry but people who have to analyze and find fault in everything must live a sad life. This wasn't suppose to be a game changer or promoting a message or anything. The premise in itself should have told you it was just another movie to draw in a few bucks in exchange for a few laughs because we know its ridicolous and we go to see this ridicolous to entertain us, not developing some thought provoking ephiphany that would change our lives.
I think that subtext was maybe not the hardest to miss :D He kinda hammers you in the face with it and then continues to hammer you in the face with it.
But it's the same with Paul I didn't find it particularly offensive because I didn't find it particularly challenging. I tend to spam my Facebook with cool ideas about God and this just seems to be the inverse. With Paul, why the heck should an alien know whether God exists? Wouldn't they be in the same position as us? I think that film thought the bible said aliens didn't exist but that's not actually true. In the end my atheist brother said, why didn't you believe Paul? He can resurrect people, I'd believe what someone who can resurrect people says :D
Here it's, why should Ricky Gervais know whether God exists or not? He feels like it's a clever lie told to make people feel better about themselves? Well... good on him I guess? :D
But although it's not offensive I think it spoils the film a lot because the ending very much derails and it stops really being about the jokes so much and stops being about character, but just about what they wanted to say about God
Its a distant memory but... I remember enjoying it.
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Its just...bad
On the face of things, The Invention Of Lying is just another average movie, not worth another thought after being watched. However, when the credits began rolling and I saw that this was written and directed by the star, Ricky Gervais, it ended up disappointing me on a whole other level.
Ricky Gervais is a considerable talent. His stand-up is good and in The Office and Extras, he is responsible for two of the best comedic television shows of the 00s. So why does The Invention Of Lying fall so short of those standards? Does Gervais need Stephen Merchant to keep his writing in check? Gervais' delivery helped elevate some of the lines from absolutely pointless to mildly amusing, but when he wrote those lines in the first place there is a problem. His performance is decent, but only that, and he has yet to show he can carry a feature-length film.
An another, slightly pedantic note, although the setting is a world where people cannot lie, the way this is presented just bugs me. It's premised on no one ever lying, so they constantly say things like 'You're fat and ugly' which is entirely different to not lying-it's actually speaking your mind unprompted-which they don't bother addressing at all. Its distracting and totally drew me out of the movie. Ultimately I'm not sure this would make a good sketch, never mind a whole film. One to avoid.