The Invention of Lying
Metascore
58 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 31 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 31
  3. Negative: 3 out of 31
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  1. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Nick Pinkerton
    30
    Lying brushes more big ideas than commonplace comedies, but hasn't taken those ideas through enough drafts to work out their implications or--harder still--make them killingly funny.
  2. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    30
    In the spirit of that world, I cannot tell a lie: The Invention of Lying, which the English comedian both directed and wrote with Matthew Robinson, soon loses altitude and eventually falls flat.
  3. Empire
    Reviewed by: Chris Hewitt
    20
    Proof that when you aim for the stars, sometimes you find a black hole. Hopefully just an anomaly for the usually wonderful Gervais.

User Reviews

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User Score
5.7 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 110 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 48
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 48
  3. Negative: 18 out of 48
  1. BobS
    10
    Fabulous. Funny. Well done. Yes, it might have been executed in a better cinematic way, but who cares. The story, the plot, the acting, and most importantly the message was outstanding. In a nice delicate way it explained how religion -- while it might do very nice things to make people happy and lead nice lives -- is based on fables and stories. As people take those stories and make them absolute truths, they inhibit their ability to have original thought and sometimes do bad things. They can even use the religion as the excuse or rationale to do things that aren't good for others. They claim they can do things because god talks to them. That's why religious extremists can inspire so many illiterate and hopeless people and turn them into terrorists. That's why religions can get people to hate people - like gays, people of other religions, or non-believers. That's why religions can get people not to use birth control even thought population expansion is really bad for the planet. That's why Popes jailed Galileo in the 17th century for having scientific thought that contradicted church teachings. And that's why the religious right today can get all upset about movies like this -- because they see it as blasphemy that challenges their thinking rather than just seeing it as a someone with original thought questioning beliefs that have gotten out of hand.… Full Review »
  2. BrianN.
    6
    A fantastic concept that sadly runs out of steam in the first 60 minutes then degenerates into murky waters.
  3. AlexM
    8
    I loved it. But Gervais should've expanded on his expose of religion and left the romantic subplot out. And just for the record, all of the offended christians saying "the movie was so offensive, we walked out" are fuckin' hypocrits. There are an absurd amount of movies which suggest that there is a God, meerly by reference to an afterlife, or even a substantial part of the plot; but atheists don't just walk out of the theatre. The truth is, the reason you find the film so offensive is because the way in which Mark Bellison created religion is just as likely to be the origin of any other religion. And fyi, if you need religion to give you morals, then you're a dick.… Full Review »
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