JIM reviews film “THE INVENTION OF LYING” – The Hunt for BLUNT, where Tact is NOT a Fact!

“THE INVENTION OF LYING” – The Hunt for BLUNT, where Tact is NOT a Fact!

Rating: 7.5 of 10 stars (based on an advance screening). =

This movie stars RICKY GERVAIS (who also wrote & directed it). He lives in a world where everyone tells the TRUTH—or, more importantly, goes out of their way to be BRUTALLY honest in spewing forth their various Opinions (whether or not they’re asked for). Utilizing Tact is an UNKNOWN activity, & the characters in the film (including JENNIFER GARNER as Ricky’s love interest, ROB LOWE as a competitor at work, & LOUIS C.K. & JONAH HILL as beer-drinking buddies of his) turn out to be quite FUNNY in the way they are “open” & massively politically INCORRECT (in a world where we tend to expect the opposite).

Please understand: the IDEA is more understatedly CLEVER than the script is filled with big “laugh” lines. For example, a home for Old People is named like “A Place of SADNESS Where People Go to DIE”, & so on. At one point, almost by “accident”, Ricky LIES— & finds that, when people always expect the Truth from everyone, it’s very easy to DECEIVE them & get things he WANTS (like money). In time, he decides to create the idea of an “ETERNAL LIFE”, causing him to be in-effect a media-invented religious-like “GURU” for a problem-filled world desperate for some “good” news.

This generally sweet film is whimsical rather than uproarious, & I feel that will LIMIT its appeal. Please understand, I LIKED the concept & basic execution, being especially appreciative of CLEVER work. But, best that, if you go, you’re NOT expecting to guffaw with a series of belly laughs, because that’s not what this film is.