Invention of Lying, The

Aroview: Ricky Gervais plays leading man in this romantic comedy, set in a world where everybody tells the truth until a down on his luck writer (Gervais) invents the lie.

The humorous first half delivers on the smart premise, establishing a world where everyone must tell the brutal truth, and men like Gervais (short and chubby), are the target of the scriptwriter’s mischevious cynicism. It is once Gervais' writer establishes himself as a false prophet, however, that the film loses it's steam, puttering out into a thinly-disguised atheist manifesto. An interesting, but oddly disheartening flick that misses the bar for high-concept rom-coms set way back by GROUNDHOG DAY .