I laughed once, at the ice cream flavors. I still really enjoyed it.

The Invention of Lying gave me more laughs than any other films this year. Some sharp wit is shown by Ricky Gervais when he has to invent religion (therefore lie) under pressure.

The religious theme was a bit much here. The pizza boxes almost lost me completely, but what I found most interesting was the idea that without the ability to lie there would be no imagination, no sense of fun, and even perhaps an inability to care about one another.

I’m not sure I can really buy that, but then I can’t really imagine how the world would work if we were unable to lie.

In the end I kind of like the fact that the movie was pushing religion and the value of lying at the same time. Definitely one of the more unique films I’ve seen in a while.

Random thought: I kept watching Jennifer Garner play her role so robotically and thinking what a shame she wasn’t cast in the remake of The Stepford Wives.

This was a cute movie set in a world where nobody lies. Nobody even knows how to lie. The word “lie” isn’t even in their vocabulary. Everyone is painfully honest and the world is pretty bland. Ricky Gervais plays Mark, a guy who has it pretty rough. He’s getting fired from his job, the woman he wants to date doesn’t find him attractive, and the consensus of the world seems to be that he’s a loser. On the verge of being evicted, he has the brilliant idea to “say something that isn’t.”

In a world where no one knows how to lie, the one man who figures it out can say anything and be believed. When Mark gives his dying mother a description of heaven to make her last few minutes less painful, he becomes an instant celebrity. After crafting his story about “The Man in the Sky,” Mark becomes world famous, but the effects of his story, made up to give the world hope, don’t have the exact effects he’s looking for.

I really enjoyed this movie. I thought it was cleverly written and an interesting look at a world without lies (generally boring and not so pleasant since tact is unheard of as well). Ricky Gervais is endearing as Mark. Even Jennifer Garner’s character, Anna, who is shallow and self absorbed and only worried about finding someone her genetic match, develops throughout the movie in a believable way.

Another fun part of the movie is the cameos. Several familiar faces pop up, including Jason Batemen, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Jonah Hill.

Really enjoyed it overall…definitely worth consuming!