I just watched the movie [The Invention of Lying] tonight as a part of K’s birthday celebration. The celebration included bowling, dinner, and movie at her place + much random discussion about life, work, and stupid start ups. I suggested bowling b/c I hate it slightly less than ice skating. Tonight, I actually bowled an 87 (horrible by other people’s standards, the Olympics of my own).
Back to the movie at hand. It was mildly entertaining but on the whole, horrible. The story seems to drag on after Ricky Gervais (who cares that his name in the movie is Mark or Doug?) reveals the grand lie about religion and the [spoiler alert] ten commandments presented on two well-placed Pizza Hut signs. The proverbial lesson of the romantic comedy? That Jennifer Garner finally learns the importance of seeing a person above their looks, genes, and resume. No one mentions that Ricky was attracted and stuck on Jennifer for the entire movie b/c she was hot. You don’t see any of her “amazing” or “wonderful” characteristics. Yet, Jennifer (Anna in the movie) learns the lesson in the end. Well la-di-da.
Why is there an assumption that the hot people are purely shallow and the fat characters guys are so deep and see people for who they really are. Oh, I’m sorry. There is one fat lady (maybe two) at the very beginning when Ricky discovers he can lie and proceeds to try and grab a woman’s boobs. He skims over the pair of chubby, older ladies for a millisecond before deciding a firm no, and I think that was the last fat lady you see for the rest of the film. Of course, you’ll see Ricky in various levels of tubbiness and undress for the rest of the film.
Beyond the obvious signs of Hollywood stereotypes, there’s also the fact that the movie ends when Ricky gets the girl. Nevermind that he’s introduced the entire world to the concept of religion and left them to believe and interpret the crap that he’s spewed. Forget the fact that his best friends in the movie are living inept lives based on drinking and watching TV, so that they can get to heaven and get a mansion. Sure, this could be interpreted as the fucked upness of religion today. But that sub-plot was never explored or even alluded towards the end of the movie, so as an audience, we’ll just assume it’s a plot hole and not some ingenious commentary about religion in society today.
I’m ranting at this point. So I’ll conclude with yes, I enjoyed the movie for the hour and some change that I spent watching with friends, but too much thought afterward would make my brain explode. It’s an adorable Valentine’s Day movie, if you’re in a couple and want to snuggle up but the guy doesn’t want to watch the three hour Atonement (I don’t know anything about this movie except that it looks awfully freakin’ long, overdramatic, and bo-fucking-ring).
Favorite line of the movie: when Jennifer Garner runs out of the church (or “a quiet place to think about the man in the sky”) and tells Ricky, “I want to have little fat kids with stub noses.”
Random jewels (against all evaluation standards where you start and end with positives, I’m leaving these jewels at the end):
- Jason Bateman and Ed Norton make hilarious cameos.
- The product placement in the movie is pretty freakin’ awesome, a.k.a. I admired the marketing skills although Google tells me that some critics have called the movie “The Invention of Product Placement.” I think marketers have really learned the importance of product placement that’s related/tied-into the plot. Most directors would refuse, but it works just perfectly in this comedy/satire. Some examples:
- Coke: Because people can’t lie or misinterpret things in the movie, the tag line is “Coke: It’s very famous.” Not only did they get that tag all over the movie and in some very strategic places (fat guy eating sandwich in the park… there’s a coke in brilliant red on the edge of the screen that’s perfectly positioned with polar bear and all), but it also got “Pepsi: For when they don’t have coke.” In case all of those things don’t remind you, an example of advertisement in this alternate reality features a 10-15 second Coke commercial, and you see the progression of Coke’s taglines evolve from the beginning of the movie to post-religion.
- Pizza Hut: Ricky Gervais holds up his 10 or so commandments for religion taped on the back of Pizza Hut boxes, as he reveals them Moses style to the people. ‘Nough said.
- Budweiser: It’s the only beer Ricky drinks. He orders it during his first awkward date with Jennifer and continues to binge drink it when he’s rich. In fact, Budweiser bottles are all over the movie sets.
