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The Invention of Lying

I like Ricky Gervais, however…

Premise

This idea would have been great for a half-hour episode of a sitcom or a sketch on Saturday Night Live. But a full-length movie was unable to hold the joke for long.

Specifically, I disconnected from the flick at the beginning of Act I when Ricky was in the bar contemplating his next lie. He told his buddy and the bartender he invented the bicycle, is a pirate, etc. I understood that the guys had to believe him, but it was ridiculous that they did not question how he could be everything at once or one thing after the other. From the non-existence of lying to everyone being stupid and without memory was painful.

Just because people could not lie, why did that mean they had to say everything on their minds? It was cute in the first few minutes, but then got tiresome and silly.

Other movies with an alternate reality work when it’s the world as we know it that was changed by one element. Here, it was an unfamiliar world from the get-go so what exactly was I supposed to relate to? Perhaps this could have worked if Ricky moved to a small town where honesty was a premium. Or a storm somehow wiped out everyone’s ability to lie. I dunno…

Structure/Plot

The moment when Ricky first lied was weak. He did it simply because of the stress so what about the millions of others who were in a jam? Fantasy elements need a little something to activate. Here, while talking to the bank teller, something could have accidentally hit him in the head and shook up his brain cells, thus allowing him to lie.

Ricky becoming a type of Moses was also way off base. Since the movie started by saying that the aspect of lying did not evolve with the rest of humanity, it seemed natural that Ricky’s ability to lie would have spread to others. This would have caused some of his plans to backfire and eventually created the world as we know it.

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