October 9, 2009
There's a sub-genre of rom-com in which an average looking, not particularly nice, hapless sort of man pursues the affections of a gorgeous and highly intelligent woman - think of Gervais's previous movie Ghost Town, or Simon Pegg's How to Lose Friends and Alienate People and his earlier Run Fat Boy Run. If these movies bring hope to the average Joes in the audience, they don't do much for the average Janes; but they are, on the whole, plausibly written and nicely produced and acted, and they do make you feel good.
T.I.O.L. is an amusing example of this genre, with Gervais as the only person in a fictive world who can tell lies. After a couple of curiously unsatisfying attempts to get lots of money and sleep with attractive women, he finds himself having to comfort his dying mother, and naturally comes up with such an outrageous whopper (life after death, heaven, etc.) that he finds himself on national tv having to pretty much invent religion and explain God (this movie is not going to go down well in the Bible belt).
There are some very amusing touches - Gervais's character is an unsuccessful screen-writer for movie production company Lecture Films (imagine what movies would be like if they only portrayed the truth!) and his arch-rival for the hand of Jennifer Garner is the much better-looking and more successful Rob Lowe.
That's pretty much the whole plot, but the pleasure comes in the details - mostly the way that people in this truthful society feel compelled to expose every thought and deed to others. They not only can't lie, but they can't keep a secret either. It is funny and sharp and biting, and Gervais (whom I always found rather tiresome on the tv) is actually very good indeed. Well worth the ticket price.
T.I.O.L. is an amusing example of this genre, with Gervais as the only person in a fictive world who can tell lies. After a couple of curiously unsatisfying attempts to get lots of money and sleep with attractive women, he finds himself having to comfort his dying mother, and naturally comes up with such an outrageous whopper (life after death, heaven, etc.) that he finds himself on national tv having to pretty much invent religion and explain God (this movie is not going to go down well in the Bible belt).
There are some very amusing touches - Gervais's character is an unsuccessful screen-writer for movie production company Lecture Films (imagine what movies would be like if they only portrayed the truth!) and his arch-rival for the hand of Jennifer Garner is the much better-looking and more successful Rob Lowe.
That's pretty much the whole plot, but the pleasure comes in the details - mostly the way that people in this truthful society feel compelled to expose every thought and deed to others. They not only can't lie, but they can't keep a secret either. It is funny and sharp and biting, and Gervais (whom I always found rather tiresome on the tv) is actually very good indeed. Well worth the ticket price.