The Invention of Lying "is seriously subversive," said Lisa Schwarzbaum in Entertainment Weekly. Co-written by, co-directed by, and starring Office creator Ricky Gervais, this "jolting philosophical comedy" is set in an alternate universe where lying doesn't exist, and centers on a man (Gervais) who discovers the benefits of not telling the truth. "The performances are razor sharp," and "the ideas in this movie are, no kidding, big" (watch the trailer for The Invention of Lying).
Gervais' new movie "is good," said Bill Goodykoontz in The Arizona Republic, "but it could have been great." The first half of The Invention of Lying is "funny and provocative, confronting head-on the kinds of things most comedies deal with in glancing blows, if at all." But it "loses steam in the last act" and goes "soft," as Gervais' character tries to get the girl (Jennifer Garner) and the film struggles toward a happy ending.
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