In a parallel world where everybody tells the truth, Ricky Gervais's everyman invents falsehood, turning his nobody into a somebody, and giving him a shot at Pouting Sexy-Woman Jennifer Garner. But when he tells a lie to ease his dying mum's mind, he inadvertently invents religion (yawn), investing him with a frightening power and attracting attention from all four corners of the globe. What begins as a mildly entertaining high-concept comedy (with Woody Allen-ish credits) turns into an incredibly heavy-handed atheist satire that operates at the heady intellectual and theological level of an 11-year-old skim-reading Philosophy for Beginners. I've found before that Gervais is fine at ridiculing Karl Pilkington for being stupid, but when he's asked straightforward questions about his…

It's rare that a movie actually makes me angry, but this one did. Ricky "Did I mention I'm an atheist" Gervais takes an interesting and potentially very funny premise about a world where no one has even head of the concept of lying and turns it into his own, personal, hour and a half soapbox, and that's just not okay.

This could've been great. This could've been funny. The beginning IS funny. But Gervais is much more interested in telling you why religion is bullshit, and how you're an absolute dumb fucking asshole, who's too stupid to live if you believe in anything. That's the ENTIRE FILM!

I'm an agnostic atheist myself, and I agree that organized religion is a…

Tagline: In a world where everyone can only tell the truth... ...this guy can lie.

We need more of this type of film. But then again... they are the heardest to make of all, so we can expect only a few of them. It reminds me in some ways of Groundhog day. On first viewing a simplistic movie. But it carries a message. It is good viewing by the whole family. It is a feel good movie, not specifically just the ending. It is a movie which takes one idea, one premise and puts in under the magnifying glass. In this case: nobody lies, or can lie. The story starts when that changes ofcourse. One guy can. He can lie.…

The Invention of Lying is brilliant on a number of levels. First-off, it's a great idea for a high-concept comedy. We don't see a whole lot of that sort of comedy these days. You've got this one, Idiocracy, and... I'm drawing a blank.

Anyway, the concept of a society where everyone tells the truth and is incapable of lying is inherently funny. Now add in the idea that one guy figures out how to lie, and you can get up to all sorts of shenanigans. In fact, that's where the advertisements all seemed to focus (at least in the U.S.) - what crass and horrible things can a guy lie about to get money, fame, and most importantly, laid?

Those…