In
The Invention of Lying, Ricky Gervais, the always funny and quirky comedian grapples with the instant benefits and results of lying. This movie has a few actors I never expected to see from Tina Fey to Edward Norton and a serious actress who has appeared on Law & Order as a tough District Attorney to. I can’t help but see a hint of Maid of Honor as Gervais and Jennifer Gardner play the odd romantic couple. If you could do anything, what would it be? Such a vague question yet profound since we’re in the pursuit of truth while lying to get what we want. Five minutes into the movie after the main character goes on a date with Jennifer Gardner and told him all her shallow yet truthful thoughts, I questioned my motivation for renting this film. I’m already bored out of my mind and wondered how will this humorless movie ends. To find out I have to keep watching and suspend my constant judgments and high expectations of something surprising to happen. Mark is ea nobody writer who starts capturing everyone’s attention with his ability to tell spellbinding stories that makes the world a happy place. I can use this dose of happy pill in the form of an touching sugary story right about now.
His first action with his newfound ability to lie is to get money and help his suicidal neighbor feel good about life. He then builds the courage to ask his last date to go out again because he’s different now. He can get just about anything he wants including a woman who does not find him attractive. Furthermore, he lied his way back to his old job at Lecture Films where he was fired for the most unsuccessful screenplays. He pitched a new story with the same title that was previously rejected by his boss. What would I do with that kind of lying power? Well, getting an old job at a company where I was not wanted would not be on my wish list. At this point, what Mark knows is how to tell lies that make people happy and make them feel good. One of our obsessions is what happens after we die and Mark seems to have stumbled on the manifesto of life beyond. He shares his tips with his curious followers while holding the pages inside a Pizza Hut box. Needless to say Mark becomes rich with the best film ever and building a life with his best friends and his very own mansion. Being rich and famous does not change how his dream woman sees him: a fat man with snub nose. In other words, he’s a loser in the body of a good guy. She’s looking for a strong genetic match to reproduce with and Mark does not fit her DNA profile requirement. Which would you choose? Your ideal genetic partner or being with the person who makes you happy just being around? Is it possible to get everything you thought you wanted yet live a miserable unfulfilling life? We live in a world where we claim to value happiness over beauty and money. On the other hand, we spend endless amount of time and resources to be perceived ageless, flawless, rich and beautiful. Instead of chasing a Man in the Sky ideological fable, how about looking in the mirror and around you to discover and rediscover what matters as you go through the cycle of life.
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