THE INVENTION OF LYING - I Wish It Was the Invention of Humor

As is often the case with these blog posts, let me first state that I think Ricky Gervais is a brilliant writer and performer. I enjoyed the hell out of the original OFFICE and EXTRAS, and I even liked him in GHOST TOWN. So when I saw that he co-wrote and -directed a film, it was one of the tops on my list to see.

INVENTION OF SPOILERS BELOW

TIOL isn't a very good film. It has an interesting premise -- in a world where everyone tells the truth, one man is able to lie, with intersting consequences.

The main problem is the same one that plagues GHOST TOWN and BRUCE ALMIGHTY -- a lack of ambition. You have this great big idea -- one man in the entire world is able to lie and it's going to change the world in major ways. And the execution of that idea is about as small and unimaginative as you can get. Although Gervais does inadvertently create religion, which winds up having good and bad effects, mostly he uses his lying for small things -- getting his job back and attempting to woo a girl. The way in which he does both those things is also small and uninspired. For example, his jerky colleague Brad (Rob Lowe) tells him they'll never be a successful film about the Black Plague. After Mark invents a fictitious historical manuscript about an alien war during the Black Plague, he names the film "The Black Plague."

You could have had Mark tell Brad literally anything -- the President called and needs him to kill himself for national security; he has to move to a desert island for the rest of his life in order to save humanity; or he should strip off all his clothes and run screaming down the street. Because people believe anything Mark says, he has all the leeway in the world.

The film also doesn't bother to have Mark do anything that could make him unlikeable. The obvious character arc in this movie is that Mark goes from a complete loser to a guy who has everything going on, and in the process becomes a bit of an asshole. Then he learns that he should tell the truth instead of lying. This is the same basic arc that powers films as diverse as LIAR LIAR, GROUNDHOG DAY, and ALADDIN. But Gervais and co-writer Matthew Robinson are so afraid to make Mark unsympathetic that they bail on having him make any bad choices. He lies to a hot woman and tells her he needs to sleep with her or the world will end; she goes along with it, but he bails before actually bedding her. He steals money from a bank and a casino, then moments later steals more money to give to a homeless man. He wants to get with Anna (Jennifer Garner), but avoids lying to her when it counts (about his genetics changing with fame and fortune).

In order for Mark to learn any sort of lesson, he has to do the wrong things first -- lie and enjoy the consequences, until later on in the film when he realizes lying isn't making him happy.

The film also doesn't give Mark a clear goal. I assume it's wooing Jennifer Garner. But all we get in the way of servicing that goal is some bald exposition ("I had a date with a girl I've had a crush on for years") and Mark chasing after her all movie long. The film/script should have shown this instead of telling us. There's also nothing particularly special about Garner's Anna other than she's hot.

The film also seems to confuse brutal honesty with surface appearances. Garner can't be with Mark because his genetics would make their kids short and fat, and she thinks he's a loser because he's short and fat as well. In fact, so does everyone else in the world. Well, being short and fat certainly doesn't help anyone out in life; but it doesn't necessarily make you a loser, either. Even once Mark is rich and famous as the man "the man in the sky" (i.e. God) talks to, people still think he's a loser. This flies in the face of everything anyone knows about rich/famous/and or powerful people. I'm sure even in a world of no lies, there are plenty of rich, fat old men with trophy wives.

Finally, the film misses some opportunities. Particularly, it sets up how advertising is different in a world of brutal honesty, which creates the expectation that Mark will also inadvertently invent advertising (as he does with religion). At the very least, it could have made for a good running gag. The film similarly doesn't explain why Mark is the only person who can lie in the whole world. Since the movie makes so much of genetics, it would have been a simple explanation to have something on the order of -- Mark's short and fat, which are recessive genes; similarly the ability to lie is a recessive trait. This would not only explain Mark's lying, but how he passes it along to his son.

Off the top of my head, a better version of the film would be:

Mark wants to be rich and famous

Mark starts to lie

His lies are big ones, including that God talks to him; but he gets everything that he ever wanted and becomes President of the world with the wife and respect he wanted

He inadvertently invents everything concerned with lying -- advertising, psychics, religion, etc.

Other people start to lie as well

The world starts to go downhill

Mark feels bad -- he has everything he wanted, but it's not what he really wanted

Mark's put in some climax-driving situation that pits lying against telling the truth; preferably involving the love of his life; he opts for the truth

Mark has to give up a lot of his power and prestige, but gains the woman he loves; people learn lying is a bad thing