Like "Idiocracy", "The Invention of Lying" has a wonderful premise but nothing to do with it. What if nobody ever told a single lie. People would be brutally honest, for one thing, but co-screenwriters Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson also illustrate that it is a world without ...( read more)
Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Jonah Hill
Set in a world where the concept of lying doesn't exist, a loser changes his lot when he invents lying and uses it to get ahead.
Directed by: Matthew Robinson, Ricky Gervais
Release Date: October 2, 2009
Stats: 7,389 reviews
Your Rating
Flixster Reviews (7,389)
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October 31, 2009
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October 30, 2009
How do you go about getting your way--or making your way--in a world where fiction or lying (even white lies) are non-existent? In The Invention of Lying, that question seems to be the prevailing theme. Of course, things in our world are made so much more simple by the act of tel...( read more)
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October 30, 2009
The Invention of Lying
This started of as quite a good amusing film, Gervais (you like him or loath him) is good in his little role of a lonely sad man trying to make it in a world of truth, the jokes are along the lines of 'The Office' to a degree...the embarrassment factor whe...( read more) -
October 15, 2009
another star produced flick, this one (unlike "couples retreat") has in it somewhere the conceit of trying to make a real film. unfortunately, well, even the best laid plans, eh? still, look for fionnula flanagan's bit part as the mom...better that most of the piece. and gerva...( read more)
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November 7, 2009
Ricky Gervais is one step closer to become one of my favourite comedy actors. Lets see how it goes.
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November 7, 2009
the begining was hilarious then the movie because extremely boring and pointless almost not even interesting enough to watch anymore. It was a funny movie nonetheless.
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November 5, 2009
Sick of Ricky Gervais being Ricky Gervais. Jennifer Garner was the only light in this dud.
Critic Reviews
The last third of the movie is as bad as anything I've seen this year, with the laughs trailing off, and half of the supporting characters, the zestier ones, being airbrushed from the frame. full review
The laughs rain down early on; later - Messiah moment apart - they thin to a drizzle, deprived of variation. full review
The result is an erratically funny but often frustrating comedy, with an interesting premise hobbled by internal inconsistencies and uneven writing. full review
"The Invention of Lying" harvests so many sharp laughs from its fertile premise, it's too bad the picture slides into gooey platitude at the end. Getting to that point, though, is a lot of fun. full review
By adhering to the romantic-comedy formula, The Invention of Lying stops short of being truly inventive. But enough sequences are fresh and inspired to make this a comedy honestly worth catching. full review
There's no hope that Gervais' performance in The Invention of Lying will open up new hope for a different kind of leading man -- and that's what makes his resoluteness so great. full review
It's no fun watching Gervais work out a tired fantasy of turning hot babes into chubby chasers. We want Gervais in all his merry, malicious glory. That's no lie. full review
Sublimely funny, slyly satirical and deliberately designed to upset Aunt Prissy, The Invention of Lying weaves quite a wicked web. full review
Nobody plays a sad sack quite like British comedian/writer Ricky Gervais; something about his posture and his ever-hopeful-yet-slightly-beseeching expression speaks of a balloon just about to deflate. full review
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