The Invention of Lying
| The Invention of Lying | |
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 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | |
| Written by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Narrated by | Ricky Gervais |
| Cinematography | Tim Surhstedt |
| Edited by | Chris Gill |
| Music by | Tim Atack |
Production companies | |
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Release dates | September 14, 2009 (TIFF) October 2, 2009 |
Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $18.5 million[1] |
| Box office | $32,406,507[2] |
The Invention of Lying is a 2009 fantasy romantic comedy film that was written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson. This film is the directorial debut of Gervais and Robinson. The film stars Ricky Gervais as the first human with the ability to lie. The supporting cast features Jennifer Garner, Jonah Hill, Louis C.K., Rob Lowe and Tina Fey.
Plot
Mark Bellison (Ricky Gervais) is an unsuccessful lecture-film writer who is assigned to write about the 1300s, a "very boring" era. One night he goes out on a date with the beautiful, charming and wealthy Anna McDoogles (Jennifer Garner). She tells Mark she is not attracted to him, because of his looks and unsuccessful financial situation, but is going out with him to satisfy her extremely prejudiced mother and as a favour to Mark's friend Greg Kleinschmidt (Louis C.K.).
Mark then lies in a variety of other circumstances, including telling an attractive woman (Stephanie March in a cameo) that the world will end unless they have sex, preventing a police officer (Edward Norton in a cameo) from arresting his friend Greg for drunk driving, getting money from a casino, and stopping his neighbour Frank Fawcett (Jonah Hill) from committing suicide. He realises that lying can be used for better purposes than just for personal gain by doing this. He then writes a screenplay about the world being invaded by aliens in the 14th century, in which it is claimed that the memories of all humans were erased. He becomes wealthy from the success of the film which he names The Black Plague.
Mark convinces Anna to go out with him again, hoping she will see past his looks now that he is financially secure. On their date Anna congratulates Mark for his success and admits that he would be a good husband and father. She is still not attracted to him, saying that, if they ever have children, Mark would contribute half of the heredity to their children, resulting in "fat kids with snub noses". Mark then gets a call that his mother has had a heart attack and rushes to the hospital. There, the doctor (Jason Bateman) tells him that his mother is going to die. She is terrified of death, believing that it will bring an eternity of nothingness. Mark, through tears, tells her that death instead brings a joyful afterlife, introducing the concept of a Heaven to her, and she dies happy while the doctors and nurses appear awed by what he says.
Mark soon receives worldwide attention for his supposed new information about death. Under pressure from Anna, he tells them, through "ten rules", that he talks to a "Man In The Sky" who controls everything and promises great rewards in the good place after you die, as long as you do no more than three "bad things". Some time later Anna and Mark are together in a park and Anna asks him, if they marry, would his now being rich and famous make their children more physically attractive. Mark wants to lie but does not because of his feelings for Anna.
Meanwhile Mark's rival Brad Kessler (Rob Lowe) pursues Anna romantically, motivated by Mark's success. However, Brad's blunt, rude manner makes Anna uncomfortable, though she continues dating him; they become engaged. Anna invites Mark to the wedding. Mark tries to dissuade her from marrying Brad, but fails. Anna goes to the park she first went to with Mark and sees a slightly overweight child with an ice cream being bullied by thinner children. She yells at them and they run away. She runs up to the boy and wipes away his tears while asking his name. He replies 'Short Fat Brian' to which she tells him: 'You are so much more than just that.'
Before the wedding Mark's friend Greg shows up and tries to convince him that he has not missed his chance with Anna. Mark reluctantly attends Anna and Brad's wedding, where he objects to the marriage, but the officiant informs him that only the Man in the Sky can stop the wedding. Brad and Anna both ask Mark to ask the Man in the Sky what Anna should do but Mark refuses to say anything and leaves, wanting Anna to choose for herself. Anna walks out and Mark confesses his ability to lie and tells her that the Man In The Sky was made up. Anna struggles to comprehend the concept and asks why he did not lie to convince her to marry him; Mark states that it "wouldn't count". Anna confesses that she loves him.
Some time later, the now-pregnant Anna and Mark are shown married with a son, who, it is implied, has inherited his father's ability to lie.
Cast
- Ricky Gervais as Mark Bellison
- Jennifer Garner as Anna McDoogles
- Rob Lowe as Brad Kessler
- Louis C.K. as Greg Kleinschmidt
- Jonah Hill as Frank Fawcett
- Christopher Guest as Nathan Goldfrappe
- Tina Fey as Shelley Bailey
- Roz Ryan as Nurse Barbara
- Jeffrey Tambor as Anthony James
- Jimmi Simpson as Bob Scott
- Fionnula Flanagan as Martha Bellison
- Shaun Williamson as Richard Bellison
- Bobby Moynihan as Bellison's Assistant
- Dreama Walker as Receptionist
- Ashlie Atkinson as Bank Teller
- Martin Starr as Waiter
- Conner Rayburn as Son
- Donald Foley as Yelling Man
- John Hodgman as Wedding Overseer
- Nate Corddry as News Reporter
- Stephanie March as Blonde Woman on the Street
- Matthew Robinson as Person #4
- Jason Bateman as Doctor (cameo)
- Stephen Merchant as Man at the Door (cameo)
- Philip Seymour Hoffman as Jim The Bartender (cameo)
- Edward Norton as Traffic Cop (cameo)
- Karl Pilkington as Cave Man (cameo)
- Donna Sorbello as Anna's mother
- Michael Caine attending the movie premiere
Soundtrack
The soundtrack includes Elvis Costello's otherwise-unreleased rendition of the Cat Stevens song Sitting.
Production
Production of the film originally used the title This Side of the Truth.[3]
Media Rights Capital and Radar Pictures financed the film. Shooting took place primarily in Lowell, Massachusetts; location shoots also took place in Quincy, Andover, North Andover, Sudbury, Tewksbury, Boston, Massachusetts and Haverhill, Massachusetts.[4] Principal photography was completed in June 2008.[citation needed]
Release
Warner Bros. owns the rights for the film's North American distribution, while Universal Pictures owns the rights to release the film outside of North America. The film was released in North America on October 2, 2009. Its world premiere occurred two weeks earlier at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival on September 14, 2009.
The DVD and Blu-ray were released on January 19, 2010.[5] Gervais briefly promoted the DVD during his hosting duty at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards in a joking manner, referring to its modest box office results.
Reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 56% of 174 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 5.9 out of 10.[6] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, the film has a rating score of 58 based on 31 reviews, suggesting "mixed or average reviews".[7]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film three and a half stars out of four saying "in its amiable, quiet, PG-13 way, [it] is a remarkably radical comedy".[8] Xan Brooks of The Guardian was also favourable, giving the film four out of five stars, although he was critical of some aspects: "It is slick and it is funny. But it is also too obviously schematic, while that romantic subplot can feel awfully synthetic at times."[9] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called it a "mostly funny if melancholic defense of deceit" that "looks so shoddy that you yearn for the camerawork, lighting and polish of his shows, like the original The Office, because, really, these days TV rarely looks this bad." In some scenes, Dargis says "lying becomes a means to transcendence, an escape from the quotidian, from our oppressive literal-mindedness, from our brute selves. For the most part, though, Mr. Gervais prefers to shock us with our own brutality...[with] unvarnished truths [that] begin to feel heavy, cruel."[10]
Box office
The film opened at #5 with $7,027,472 behind Zombieland, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs in its third weekend, the Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3-D double feature, and Surrogates in its second weekend.[11] The film has come to gross $18,451,251 in the United States, and $13,955,256 internationally, with a worldwide gross of $32,406,507.[2][12]
References
- ^ "The Invention of Lying: Samson Jacob". ComingSoon.net. 2009-08-24.
- ^ a b "Movie The Invention of Lying - Box Office Data". The-Numbers. Retrieved 2009-12-23.
- ^ Gervais, Samson (March 2009). Jacob.com/thissideofthetruth.php "Week sixty-three — April 2009". Samson Jacob... Obviously. Retrieved 2009-05-08.
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help) - ^ "City to Host Hollywood Production". City of Haverhill.
- ^ "The Art of Lying". IGN Entertainment. IGN Movies. 2009-12-03. Retrieved 2009-12-26.
- ^ "The Invention of Lying". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2009-12-23.
- ^ "The Invention of Lying (2009): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2009-12-23.
- ^ Ebert, Roger. "The Invention of Lying". rogerebert.com. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
- ^ Invention of Lying review from The Guardian
- ^ Manohla Dargis (October 2, 2009). "A World Where Truth Turns Out Not to Be Beauty". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-05-10.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Internet Movie Database US film charts 2nd October
- ^ The Invention of Lying from Box Office Mojo
