During last year’s filming of “The Invention of Lying” Lowellians caught occasional glimpses of Ricky Gervais along with his co-stars, Jennifer Garner and Rob Lowe, through the maze of movie wires, cameras and sets strung throughout the city. La Boniche and The Dubliner were among the favorite spots for celebrity sightings.
Since then, viewers have been anticipating the opening of the movie, and the premier at the Showcase Cinema on Reiss Ave held the promise of the same excitement. Unfortunately, the reality was disappointing. The story has the promise of comic thoughtfulness—it is a fairy tale set in a world where no one can lie—but it begins to unravel early.
Gervais, who along with Matthew Robinson wrote and directed the film, cannot seem to decide whether he wants to present a satire of modern advertising hyperbole, a statement about his cynical religious views, or a light romantic comedy.
The opening suggests the latter as Gervais does a “Once upon a time...” voice-over, and we meet our anti-hero, Mark Bellison (played by Gervais himself) as he plods toward his disastrous date with the beautiful Anna McDoogles (Jennifer Garner). During the dinner she tells him that he is just not “in her league.” Adding insult to injury, she receives a cell phone call from her mother in the middle of the date. McDoogles tells her mother that she is not expecting anything, and that she “will probably never go out with him again or even kiss him goodnight.”
The blunt honesty of all of the characters flogs the viewer rather than gently poking her. Beyond simply not lying, everyone seems to have a sort of obsessive disorder where they say whatever is on their minds. Fiction of any sort does not exist, so the only form of entertainment, provided by Bellison’s employer, “Lecture Films,” is an on-screen narrator reciting history. Even an ad on the side of the bus proclaims: “Drink Pepsi—if there’s no Coke around.” Thus, everyone in the world lives in a sort of depressed stupor. Bellison’s neighbor, Frank (Jonah Hill), discloses that he wants to commit suicide because he is such a loser. In a scene that seems more suited to The Office, his perky secretary, Shelley (Tina Fey), chirps “that I realize more and more how overqualified I am for my job and how incompetent you are at yours.” She also divulges that he is going to be fired that day, if the boss can work up the courage to do so. As he drags himself out of work, his coworker, Brad Kessler (Rob Lowe), blurts out that he has always hated Bellison. Out of a job and out of luck, he goes to the bank to withdraw the three hundred dollars which stands between him and homelessness and discovers something that will change his world forever—he can lie!
Bellison uses this new ability to change his fortunes, not always for the better. Desperate to comfort his dying mother, who resides in a “Sad Place for Hopeless Old People,” Mark makes up a story about a mysterious “man in the sky” who controls the fates of everyone and has everlasting bliss waiting for her. Because he is overheard by the doctors and nurses, he reluctantly dons messianic robes in the eyes of the world as the one and only conduit for the god-man. Here the story stumbles in yet another direction. His fabrications take on a life of their own as he scrambles to create his own version of the Ten Commandments, written on pizza boxes: including promises of eternal ice cream and mansions for good behavior. (One wonders whether Gervais was listening to John Lennon’s “Imagine” when he wrote this part.)
Bellison grapples with his new-found power, trying desperately to balance his honest attempts to woo Anna with his desire to help the helpless and downtrodden by lying, or at least, gently fibbing, to them. Gervais infers that the only truthful and intelligent character is Bellison, himself, who understands that the heaven he has created is a lie.
There are some hysterical moments. When Bellison realizes that he can lie, he goes to his favorite bar (aka The Dubliner) where he meets his friend Greg (Louis C.K.) and attempts to name this new phenomenon. (“I said something that wasn’t.”) A dialogue ensues where Mark tries to get Greg to understand exactly what has happened, but each time he says something untrue, Greg comes back with innocent acceptance of the statement: (“I’m black!” “I knew it!” “I’m an Eskimo!” “Fantastic!” “I’m a one-armed German space explorer.” “When’s your launch date?”) Unfortunately, the funny moments, and even the gorgeous views of the city and the Merrimack River in the evening, are not enough to salvage the film.
Gervais is a master at creating comedy sketches, as he has proved in his television series, The Office, but his ability has not translated well into a feature-length production. The only consolation is that the city looks fabulous on the big screen, and one hopes that this will be enough to woo other movie makers with more credible scripts.
0 comments:
Post a Comment