Invention of Lying, The (2009) | Review

Eternity-Focused

Jacob Sahms

Ricky Gervais drives this satirical look at the world as Mark Bellison, a screenwriter in an alternate universe where no one has ever lied before. In a moment of desperation, Bellison invents or "discovers" the ability to lie, and it completely changes his worldview, and his awareness of his own world. He tells other people lies to make them feel better about themselves, he finds financial security with his newfound "creativity," and pursues his dream love, Anna (Jennifer Garner). Along the way, Gervais encounters characters skillfully played by Rob Lowe, Tina Fey, Edward Norton,Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jonah Hill, Jeffrey Tambor, and Christopher Guest.

For the most part, I would've found this movie hilarious. What do people really want, Gervais asks? Sex, money, respect. All of those get clever spins throughout the flick. But the real crux, which maybe you have heard about, is that Gervais invents heaven to provide his mother with peace and happiness as she dies. And the thing is, other people overhear their conversation, and begin to internalize his "lies" about heaven being a happy place, about God's provident care, and about love overcoming all, even death. So, Bellison then invents religion, eternity, and God.

Bellison's new religion is a Gospel of Prosperity meets Opiate of the Masses mixture. It includes the prospect of everyone getting a mansion, and an eternity-long supply of ice cream. It's met with questions from the hordes, and Bellison's "theology" requires that he continue to develop a more and more complicated lie to cover over all the questions that they can initially come up with. It's like a Gervais-inflected, twenty-first century Sermon on the Mount that has a completely reverse effect than Bellison intends because he's painted the "man who lives in the sky" who controls everything as being pretty wrathful (causing death, destruction, and natural disaster). So, asks one of those gathered there, "he's kind of a good guy, but he's kind of a prick, too?" And Bellison ends up leaving his gospel-according-to-the-pizza box, like Moses' bringing down of the two stone tablets.

Of course, because Gervais is an atheist, his satirical look at religion is caustic underneath all the humor. The Invention of Lying sets up like it's a romantic comedy where he's trying to win Anna's heart, and winds up being a lesson on religion, thinly veiled as a lesson on lying. Bellison tries to get people to look beyond appearances but his whole status ends up being built artificially. His love isn't exactly a catch, besides her looks, because she's completely shallow, mean, and she can't learn anything about this new religion that he's spreading.

So what would Gervais have you learn? Well, religion is just there to make you feel good; people don't really think kind thoughts, but instead are ruthless and mean; money can buy you everything but love and happiness; people would rather be lied to than told the truth; people are sheep. I'd say that about sums it up. I saw that lying is harder than telling the truth, and that image, appearances, and power are abundantly important to our society today.

But a deeper portion of what I learned comes from the perspective I took when watching Saved!and its ilk. Outsiders don't understand portions of my faith, and rather than just throwing it out there and saying "it is so," explanation is in order. The Church should be careful not to make pronouncements that are just self-serving, instead of theological. Our interpretation of Scripture should be educated and meaningful, again, not manipulative and self-serving. These are all (as Bellison points out to his archnemesis [Lowe]) "opinions" and understandings of faith that Christians and other people of faith should consider when reaching out to the unchurched and (religiously) uneducated. Rather than brushing off Gervais' take, I learned from it and I'll move on.