Sunday, August 1, 2010
The Invention of Lying (2009)
Rickey Gervais comedy about an alternate reality where everyone has always told the truth, and the fat, pug-noised writer (Gervais) who discovers fibbing. A brilliant idea for a comedy, and while some have written how the film seems to sell out to romantic comedy conventionality at the end, that's still well enough handled and at least the writing seems to be somewhat ambivalent towards said concessions. The blunt humor of the piece is very well received, and especially strong towards the beginning. One of the most inventive parts of the film is when Gervais accidentally invents religion, its got to be one of the best satires of theism I'm familiar with. I love the way people obsess over different aspects of the newly reveled 'Man in the Sky', and the theological questions asked and debated here have a raw honesty and humor about them that I appreciated. In fact that relates to one of the big, ambiguous themes of the film, that religion simultaneously makes all the difference, as well as no difference in the lives of the people of the world. There are some deep, spiritual, human themes here, but there's also some pretty funny and borderline awkward stuff to appreciate. I sure appreciated it. ^
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3 comments:
I haven't seen this one yet but after hearing what you had to say I have added it to my list of movies to see.
You know, I stopped viewing this one when I discerned the theme. It was around the time of the fellow's first public statement, when mobs of persons were gathered outside his home, that I said 'I've had enough.'
At the same time, I admit, based upon what I saw, that it's rather clever, well-written, and witty. But it hits too close to home. Does that make me narrow? Not sure.
But to me, it's a little as if they made a movie about the kids....you read about them every so often....who pee in or otherwise contaminate the food at the fast food restaurants at which they work. Yes, they're displaced rebels, making caustic statements about the dead-end jobs society has thrust upon its young. Yes, you acknowledge a certain originality and a penchant for uninhibitedly outrageous conduct. On a certain level, it's undeniably funny.
But they're still peeing in the food.
I thought it was good, biting in about as palatable a way as that can be made. I understand that if you’d though about the issues the film raises before it might seem kind of old hat, but I think its important the comfortable be afflicted from time to time, and the film (especially the scene you site) is a great parable summation of the atheist argument, and I didn’t think it was mean spirited. But to each his taste. The film gets to be fairly conventional romantic comedy after that midway point.
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