Ricky Gervais's The Invention of Lying screens at the Royal Botanic Gardens tomorrow night before an advance preview screening of Armando Iannucci's hilarious In the Loop on Wednesday. The Gervais vehicle stars the British comedian as Mark Bellison, an ordinary, not particularly attractive man, who lives in a world where everyone always tells the truth and discovers that he has the ability to lie. That this conceit is deeply flawed is unfortunate—being unable to tell a lie doesn't necessarily mean everyone should always say exactly what's on their mind, as everyone seems to do here—but the film works well enough regardless. This is due in part to its stellar cast—Tina Fey, Rob Lowe and what at times seems to be half the cast of Arrested Development—and in part to the path it chooses to take, ultimately and unexpectedly becoming a critique of faith, with Mark's ability to lie leading, in one of the film's most moving scenes, to the invention of religion.

The Australian, 8 January 2010