From Houyhnhnm To Ho-hum

The Invention Of Lying (2009), written, directed and produced by its star, Ricky Gervais, wasn't a hit. I'd guess much of its relative failure is that Gervais wasn't a big star and people didn't want to see him as a romantic lead.

I saw the film in a theatre and have been watching it lately on TV, and I'll admit it's got some decent laughs, but I don't think it quite works. The concept is a world approximately the same as ours, except no one can lie. No one even understands what a lie is. There's a lot of comic mileage gotten from characters being, by our standards, absurdly blunt. I especially like Tina Fey in a small role.

Gervais plays a screenwriter (films in this world are a guy in a chair reading
a script about what happened in the past) who figures out how to lie and suddenly can do anything. I think the film raises interesting philosphical questions. Is it conceivable that there could be a land where people have abstract intelligence and (I assume) free will, but not be able to lie, or even understand the concept? I'm reminded a bit of Gulliver meeting the Houyhnhnms--a population of horses who, arguably, represent a perfect society. (Some see them as a satirical look at a world based on pure reason.) They are so honest that they have no word for "lie," and have to resort to phrases like "to say a thing which is not." But note even the Houyhnhnms can recognize a lie, even if they consider it unusual.

Roger Ebert, who liked the movie, called it "remarkably radical" and he has a point. What makes it most radical is a turn in the plot which is interesting but ultimately derails the film. Gervais is a loser who pines after Jennifer Garner. She likes Gervais, but can't see bearing his ugly children, and would much rather form a family with handsome, successful Rob Lowe. So far, so good--a classic triangle in a new setting.

Then Gervais, in essentially a separate plot, starts making up stories about a Man In The Sky who will reward us if we live a good life. This satire of religion is fairly radical, and many found it offensive. But I was more troubled by how it hurt the plot. Gervais introduces this concept into his world but soon the plot is back to chasing after Garner. Sorry, but you can't go back. He's opened up a huge can of worms. To forget about it, or treat it as a side-story, doesn't work. The movie becomes unbalanced with the plot going in the wrong direction. The romantic plot was having enough trouble anyway, and the ending, where Gervais predictably gets the girl, ends up being ho-hum.