The Invention Of Lying

If you are the sort of person who enjoys slouching in a recently upholstered cinema seat whilst stubbornly picking out idiosyncratic plot-flaws in glossy family-friendly love-ups; Ricky Gervais has got you covered.

The galaxy in which the film orbits is one where the notion of lying has never existed. The tale of a species which has never evolved the capacity to fib.

But that isn't an inclusive enough synopsis. Not only can none of the characters lie, but they are also obliged to blurt out arbitrary truths at any comically-convenient moment.

"You are fat and I don't find you attractive;" is a line fed to our protagonist at several junctures. At least once it should have been met with a paraphrased: "Well thanks sweetheart, but to be honest with you, I didn't bleedin' well ask."

The subtle nuances involved in lying by omission must have been difficult to write around, and yet if all of the characters were bound by this rule and were forced to relentlessly narrate their every action and thought then the resultant film would play like one interminably tedious cinematic Twitter feed.

Twitter: The Movie.

But the biggest plot-flaw, for all you flawophiles, is that although the notion of lying doesn't exist, neither seemingly does the notion of error.

At multiple points during the film, after Gervais has developed the ability to lie, he uses his new skill to his advantage. The people always believe him word in, word out.

"The computer says that your bank balance is only x, but you are telling me that your bank balance is x+1. Must be a computer error."

Yeah, must be. Its impossible that the character could have simply been wrong. That he could have forgotten about that extra bag of low-grade ecstasy that he bought at 2am the previous Tuesday or miscalculated the exchange rate when converting his theoretical Pounds into theoretical Dollars.

But not everyone is only in it for the flaws. I am, after all, a career pedant.

Some lovely religious satire and some masterfully paced lines about 'the man in the sky' amount to a very inventive and ultimately tolerable romp.