The Invention of Lying

The Invention of Lying was my latest Netflix movie. It stars Ricky Gervais, the quirky pudgy British actor, as Mark who is living in another dimension of our world where no one tells a lie. Everyone tells everyone the truth, not matter how much it hurts. People even volunteer information when it's not requested. This makes for some really funny scenes.

However, this all changes when Mark meets Anna McDoogles (Jennifer Garner). She tells him that she's not interested in him and she tells him exactly why. But suddenly he gets an idea to tell things that aren't true. Others cannot comprehend this new ability, but Mark decides to use it to his advantage.

Unfortunately, his ability to lie leaves him in a position where he uses untruths as a tool for compassion. His use of lies as a tool for compassion force him down a road that he was not ready to take, and now he must decide what is right and what is wrong.

The Invention of Lying also stars pretty boy Rob Lowe as Anna McDoogles' convenient love interest, Tina Fey as Shelley, Mark's assistant, in addition to cameos by Jason Bateman, Jonah Hill, Christopher Guest, and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Directed by Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson, The Invention of Lying is 99 minutes long and rated PG-13 for language, sexual situations, and a drug reference.

I thought the movie was fairly funny. The strength of the movie is that everyone tells the absolute truth and Mark can lie absolutely - and it's funny. However, near the end of the movie they get into an uncomfortable area where they start making fun of religion. That's not exactly where I want to see my comedy. For this I can only give The Invention of Lying 3 stars.

Baby Mama

I had the pleasure of watching Baby Mama on Sunday night. It stars Sarah Palin as a mother of a teenage daughter who gets pregnant and….What? Not quite? That's the other story? Sorry.

Let me try again. Baby Mama stars Tina Fey, who played Sarah Palin on SNL, as Kate Holbrooke, an unmarried, but successful business woman in her late 30's who cannot seem to conceive a child and decides to hire a surrogate.

SNL star Amy Poehler stars with her longtime friend and coworker as Angie, the hired surrogate. Angie, unlike Kate, is less than successful, as you can quickly decipher with her husband Carl.

This hillarious comedy stars Steve Martin as Kate's "earthy" boss, Sigourney Weaver as Chaffey Bicknell, the coordinator of surrogates, Greg Kinnear as the guy that falls for Kate, and Siobhan Fallon as the willwy funny birfing teachel wif da hooj speech impediment. Greatest line in the movie: "Who here is opting for injecting eastern culture toxins into their body for their own selfish pleasure?"

Surprisingly Angie and Carl have a fight and Angie decides to move into Kate's place. Kate is, let's say, a little redneck, while Kate, on the other hand, is probably far above Pottery Barn. So clashes between these two resulting from their totally different socio-economic upbringings makes for funny scenes. However, Angie has a little secret that may tear the two apart at the same time Kate is falling for Rob Ackerman (Kinnear). What is interesting is that Kinnear is running a smoothie shop, similar to the one he was running in Feast of Love.

Like all good romantic comedies this one has a happy ending, though probably not the one you expected, though I picked up on it with about 15 minutes left.

The movie is rated PG-13 for some sexual humor, some naughty words, some minor drug reference, and a bitchin' redneck Camaro. The movie is 99 minutes long, as many minutes as there are red balloons. I gave this movie 4 stars. My wife would have enjoyed watching this movie with me had she been able to stay awake past 9:30. Maybe she'll sneak it in during the day.