Ricky Gervais is funny, his humor is often dark and cynical. So it’s safe to assume that anything he co-writes, co-directs and stars in will be fairly funny, cynical and dark. In ‘The Invention of Lying’ Ricky Gervais pulls punches to keep it PG-13, this is not ‘Extras’ or ‘Fame’, so not as dark as you may expect.

The film takes place in a reality much like ours, the only difference is that lying is totally and completely unknown. There are no lies, no flattery, no fiction. Advertisements always tell the truth “Pepsi: What you get when they don’t have Coke”, films are nothing but famous people reading historically accurate screenplays. Gervais plays Mark Bellison a failing screenwriter (stuck with the unlucky thirteen-hundreds), who has landed a date with his longtime crush Anna McDoogles (Jennifer Garner). At the door Anna makes it known how she feels about dating a ‘little fat man with a snub nose’. Mark feels bad about this but it’s not Anna’s fault nobody knows how to say anything but the painful truth.

The film progresses with several hilariously painful truths told by all the characters. Just as the idea that everybody can’t lie begins to become a dead horse, Mark discovers that he can in fact say something that’s not true. Of course everybody believes him so as he begins to come up with more and more stories his career as a screen writer begins to soar and so does the media attention given to him.

It’s an entertaining film a more dark and cynical then your average romantic comedy and much, much more funny.

There is a large cast of supporting actors including Jeffrey Tambor, Jonah Hill, Tina Fey, Louis C.K. and Rob Lowe. There is also a disgusting amount of hilarious cameos, however I won’t name drop as that would spoil the fun.

‘The Invention of Lying’ hits theaters on October 2nd.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars