First Hit: This was a witty film which provoked thought but also seemed to either miss its target or go over some of the audience’s head.
What would happen if you lived in a world where everyone told the truth? In fact, no one was capable of lying. Everything you say is believed because no one can tell a lie.
The premise of this film is that the world would be much as it is today, only the interaction between people would be different. We’d really say what we thought and not worry about how another might really feel about our thoughts.
Example: Upon meeting a woman she might say to me, “you’re nice and you seem friendly, but I’m not attracted to you because you are balding and don’t dress well.” How would I feel if that is how someone greeted me? I’m not really sure, however it does pose an interesting question.
In this film, people’s reactions to these statements are relatively minor and because they’ve been brought up this way, they aren’t devastated, they are used to it. What would happen, then, if you were able to lie? How would you be seen? Would anyone else know? Would they understand what a lie is? What would you do?
This is what happens to Mark Bellison (played by Ricky Gervais). One day he learns how to lie. Pondering his new ability and given that he doesn’t have enough money in the bank to pay his rent he tries a logical solution to his problem.
With his new found skill he tells the bank teller he needs $800 although he only has $300 in his account. The bank teller says she is sorry that the computer is incorrect and gives him the $800 dollars and promises to get his account data fixed. It never crosses anyone’s mind that he isn’t telling the truth because no one can lie except Mark.
Although getting money is fine, his primary focus is Anna (played by Jennifer Garner). He has one date with her before he learned how to lie and he is clearly attracted to her. But he knows she is out of his league and she tells him so.
But with his new power to he hopes that his newly gained wealth and style will let her see beyond the physical problems she sees with him; meaning he doesn’t have the gene pool she is looking for. Because Mark’s mother is dying he decides to tell her a lie about dying. He tells her she won’t slip into nothingness, as everyone believes. He tells her she’ll go to a place where everyone gets a mansion and all of her friends and family will be around to love her.
A nurse overhears this story and spreads the word that Mark knows more than he is telling and that he needs to tell everyone in the world what happens after they die. Mark resists at first but with pubic pressure and pressure from Anna, he writes down 10 things.
These 10 things cover the criteria required to die and be rewarded with mansions with your family and friends around you. This criteria has been set up by "the man in the sky” who’s not quite in outer space but beyond the clouds so you can't see him. That these 10 things are written on pizza boxes is priceless.
This is an interesting and very innovative script. Ricky Gervais directs, wrote and starred in this film, and in all cases he was good; although I felt the film lagged at times due to direction. The inventive script was surprisingly good and, upon reflection, I wondered if people telling the truth (incapable of lying versus just being truthful) would tell the truth in such a crass and unfeeling way. I found the dialog at times extremely funny with analogies and juxtapositions which were very clever and made me laugh out loud. However, I was often the only one laughing in this fairly crowded opening night movie theater. Although I don’t mind being the only one laughing, it made me wonder if I was reading something into this film that wasn’t there. Although at the end of the film some people in the audience applauded. This film plays with, and looks at, the ideas around telling the truth, shallowness of thought, lying, heaven, the basic story of Christianity, people wanting to know what is next after life, and how important it is to look beyond the outside of people. It asks questions like: If everyone told the truth would they be shallow in their interpretation of others? Would people be relegated to being a loser their whole life, because of their outward looks and they were told by everyone else? Any many many more.
Overall: This was a very inventive idea to bring to film. I left the theater thinking about the questions it poses and know that some of these questions will reappear long after the film has left the theater.