BOTTOM LINE: Ricky Gervais’ directorial debut is surprisingly inventive and funny, although it loses its way towards the end with an unsatisfying and muddled climax.

THE GOOD: The conceit of this film is that humans live in a world where lying does not exist. They tell the absolute truth to each other all the time. One day, loser Mark Bellinson (Ricky Gervais) is seeing his entire life crumble around him; he gets fired, evicted and fails to impress the girl of his dreams Anna (Jennifer Garner). Under these building pressures, he walks in to a bank and tells the world’s first lie by overstating the amount he has in bank account. The teller assumes the inflated amount Bellinson quotes is accurate, despite his account being much less than that. The teller gives him the amount he asks for without question. Soon, Bellinson discovers a way to change his life, which he does by lying his way through many a situation. However, there are some unintended consequences, and Bellinson suddenly finds himself in a Messiah-like position when some of his lies become gospel. The fun to be had in this film, aside from Gervais’ funny performance, is that there is an underlying current of sarcasm thrown directly at organised religion. Bellinson makes up a lie about ‘the man in the sky’, and people suddenly believe there is someone watching over them. Bellinson wants to write his lies on stone tablets, but can only find Pizza Hut boxes. Later on, Bellinson wakes up depressed and unshaven, looking like Jesus. The supporting cast do well to support the comedic presence; Jennifer Garner is quite good at playing everything literal, and Rob Lowe is hysterical as the confident and self-absorbed screenwriter. Tina Fey also pops up as Bellinson’s ex-secretary who revels in telling Bellinson how much she hates working for him. “The Invention Of Lying” works best off its odd-ball premise, and is particularly funny in its first half when Bellinson begins to lie his head off.

THE BAD: The film loses steam after half way through its run time when the novelty of its premise begins to wear thin and its story becomes directionless. In some ways, the film is hindered by its own premise; with none of the characters capable of questioning a lie, there are no stakes for the Bellinson character. He will never get in to trouble because nobody will question him, thereby not giving him much of a journey. There are a few moments of revelation, such as when Bellinson is given opportunities to lie for his benefit but does not because it is not the right thing to do, but these moments are few and far between. Ultimately, the film has a great first half, and a lost second half that fails to give you a satisfying resolution, which is a shame because films like this can be a lot of fun.