What I'm Watching: "The Invention of Lying"

Warner Bros.

Why I watched it: Because Ricky Gervais is hilarious. That's basically why I watched this. Although I had heard that it was pretty funny from a few other people. It had pretty good supporting cast too with Jennifer Garner, Louis C.K., etc. Although the concept of this guy who is the first human being to lie seemed a bit cheap and almost guaranteed to have a cliche ending, I watched it anyway.

What I thought: It was definitely a lot funnier than I expected. Although I expected the jokes about everyone saying embarrassing, mean, stupid, weird things because they can't lie to get old, it really just kept on being funny. Gervais' reactions to things is great and I did not expect so many cameos! Throughout we see Tina Fey, Jeffrey Tambor, Jonah Hill, Jason Bateman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Edward Norton, and a few more which was really fun. HOWEVER, there's a HUGE thing about this movie that was so blatantly agenda based and something I found mildly offensive. You would think he just tries to use lying to get the girl (which he sort of tries to at first), but what really ends up happening is he creates a religion because people believe him when he's speaking to his dying mother about the beautiful place she's going to when he was just saying so to cheer her up. He then goes on to create rules made by some "man in the sky" just to give people something to believe because he feels bad for them. It's so blatantly an Atheist message that says religion is basically a bunch of lies made up to make people feel better and it's all about how good you are. In the end, Gervais tells Garner's character that she has to choose what she wants and that no one else can tell her what to do or what's "right" or the "truth". It was such a low-blow made out in such a simplistic, laughable fashion that'll just make Atheists feel good when in fact it's a ludicrously simple view presented in the film.

Should YOU see it: I'd say it's worth seeing because of the laughs you'll get out of it (because there are many) one of my favorites being when he goes to a retirement home and the sign on the front of the building says "A sad place for helpless old people" and the receptionist asks him if he's "here to abandon an elderly person". So yeah, it's funny, but as long as the atheist stuff isn't too distracting for you. I'd say it's good for starting some interesting conversations about how 'lying' and religion is presented in the film.