At the Movies with Fatwayne

My, my, what an unusual movie this turned out to be. Can you imagine a society that is incapable of lying and that, in fact, doesn’t even have the word in their vocabulary? Not only can they not lie, they have a tendency to blurt out whatever happens to be on their mind. This leads to very cruel verbal exchanges especially when one just might tell you that you are unattractive and that they never really liked you. Consider this possibility further, advertising is not very flattering, there is no form of storytelling or fiction and organized religion is nonexistent. Think you might want to live here?

The story is set in an alternate reality where everything is as we know it with the exceptions noted above. Mark Bellison (Ricky Gerevais) is a film writer who specializes in 13th Century history featuring subjects like the Black Plague which are read by guest lecturers. As you can imagine, his shows are not very popular. He is also in danger of being fired from his job, a fact that everyone knows about given the blunt reality of his world. People constantly tell him that he is a fat loser and, furthermore, he is in peril of loosing his apartment since he can not pay his rent. His social life is in the toilet but he musters the courage to ask Anna McDoogles (Jennifer Garner) to go out with him. She tells him that he is not in her league and that his DNA isn’t suitable as their offspring would be fat with snub-noses. Talk about a low blow!

Mark’s life isn’t looking too promising until a radical idea comes to him. He goes to his bank and when the teller informs him that their computers are down but he can still withdraw his money (remember, nobody lies). He tells her to give him more than he has in his account thus telling the first lie in the history of his world. When he realizes what he just got away with, his mind goes on a dizzying whirlwind of possibilities. Although deceitful, his actions are not all bad as he helps several people feel better about themselves.

His mother is in the hospital dying from a heart attack. The doctors seem to be uncaring since they are incapable of putting a positive spin on her situation. Mark tells his mother that there is indeed something after death and that she will go to a place where all of her loved ones will be waiting and she will live in a mansion and be eternally happy. This has the effect of immediately lifting Mom’s spirit and she dies with a smile on her face. The medical staff hears this conversation and are incredulous. Pretty soon word of this incredible “truth” spreads around the world and Mark becomes an international celebrity.

People are now regarding Mark as a prophet and are thirsting for more enlightenment from him. He concocts another story about a man who lives in the sky and controls everything and if you behave yourself, you will be allowed into the eternal afterlife where everything is “peaches and cream” and so he starts his worlds first religion.

Lying is becoming easy for Mark and his work is taking off because of his fantastic stories. He becomes rich and famous and is named Time Magazine’s Man of the Year. There is only one thing missing in his life and that is Anna McDoogles. She has become friends withMark but still will not marry him because of his inferior looks and DNA. Mark has a chance to change her view of him after she asks him if being rich and successful can change a person’s genetic makeup. Mark, however, will not lie to her because he wants their relationship to be based on truth and love.

Mark’s arch rival at his workplace, Lecture Films, is Brad Kessler (Rob Lowe). Brad hates Mark and considers him to be inferior. He does decidely like Anna and decides to persue her. Eventually, they plan to marry much to Mark’s dismay.

Will Mark win over Anna’s heart and become a happy man? What will be the outcome of his lies? Will you leave the theater in a happy mood? I know but I won’t tell you because I don’t want to be accused of being a spoiler. Go see this movie! I hope that you like it as much as I did.

Read quotes from the movie at  http://www.tvmoviequotes.com/theinventionoflying.htm

Rated – PG13 -

Fatwayne’s Rating  –  -