Ricky Gervais knows that the comedic genius of The Invention of Lying is in it's premise that people can only say exactly what they are thinking at any given time. He packs as many jokes as he can into the first twenty minutes and spends the rest of the film telling a story in the uncomfortable, patient style that is his trademark. Which is not to say that the movie drags or becomes too serious, but if you know how Gervais works, then you can take your time with this film and enjoy it.
Ricky is great in the movie, stretching himself as an actor, particularly in the heavy dramatic scenes. If you've only ever seen him in other features like For Your Consideration or Ghost Town, you should see the other side of him that was briefly glimpsed in The Office or Extras. The supporting cast is terrific as well, with a lot of well known comic actors such as Jonah Hill, Louis C.K., Jeffrey Tambor, Rob Lowe and Christopher Guest. Jennifer Garner is also great as the girl who doesn't find Gervais' character attractive but slowly becomes his friend and then falls in love with him. Throw in some great cameos by Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jason Bateman and Ed Norton and The Invention of Lying is a real treat.
I love Tina Fey, but I don't like her as the foil. I want to love her, not dislike her.
4 comments:
Aw, come on - Fey makes a great bitch, likable or not.
I dig the cast, but as much as I wanted to like this movie, it ends up in "meh" land. Straddles a weird line between satire and Liar, Liar, and I found the heavier dramatic stuff ill-fitting to the tone of the rest of it. Moreover, it just wasn't funny enough. Loved the Ed Norton cameo, though.
I only gave it three out of five, it did end up becoming average by the end. And I liked the Bateman cameo better, "It is enchilada night down in the cafeteria."
I was looking forward to seeing this someday. I think I still will on DVD someday.. until then it will be difficult, difficult, lemon difficult.. ha ha xoxo
I guess I'll have to send you a bootleg DVD in Cyrillic subtitles.
Post a Comment