The Saywot Blog

Not really worth the ticket price

Movie Reviews aren’t really my thing, they’re rarely useful and are often most unhelpful in deciding how to spend the now-exorbitant amount of dosh the theatres are charging for a ticket. I suspect that they are about to price themselves out of relevancy, but that’s another story. But this postis going to be both an exception (I’m doing a review) and not an exception (it will be neither useful nor helpful).
There are bad films, really atrocious examples of the cinematic crafts, they’re poorly written, ill-directed, hammish, cheap and nasty. My most recent viewing had a good premise, the direction was acceptable, the actors seemed to be putting a bit of effort into their work and the sets didn’t shake or look like they were made from re-cycled pieces of roadside garbage, it was just – bleh !

Many films have a stupid theme when examined in the cold hard light of day, reason dictates that things like the love story in the film Titanic doesn’t really make sense, that anything with the words “Doctor Who” in the title will defy any test of logic. What is important for viewer satisfaction is that the impossibilities can be overcome and that dis-belief is suspended for the duration of the film/TV show/play.

“The Invention Of Lying” didn’t do it for me, it started out incredibly (and I continue to use this as ‘not credible’ even though it’s a more common term for something really good) continued on with an obvious inconsistency and ended with everyone living happily ever after. Jesus Wept !; – is there any US film being made where there isn’t a happy ending with truth, justice and the American Way Of Life prevailing, then the credits start scrolling down the screen and you get to leave the cinema ?

{- One exeption that immediately springs to mind is “The Visitor” which you probably have never heard of, it never made it to a cinema near you nor any film reviewer who works for a commercial media outlet recommended it to you. It didn’t have a happy ending and yet it was one of the better films I have seen. By the way, the site linked to(At The Movies – ABC Australia)  is one of the better review sites in Australia – but you can’t always trust critics.}

But back to The Invention Of Lying, here’s the gist, imagine if you will some other world, quite similar to this one, except it looks remarkably like the USA, where everyone speaks the truth all the time, there is no fiction, there are no religions, all films are documentaries with a single person reading from the script, acting seems to be a form of fiction, there is no deceit or dishonesty. The main protagonist, played by Ricky Gervais, is a screen writer who at his Mother’s deathbed suffers a brain explosion and comforts her in her last moments by telling her that an afterlife exists and there is indeed a heaven a hitherto unknown concept, this small subterfuge is immediately accepted by the hospital staff in the room as ruth because lying is impossible in this world and he goes on to become rich, successful and establishes religion for the masses based an a few hastily scribbled inconsistent ideas glued to the back of a pair of takeaway pizza boxes. He gets the girl and has a small fat child – The End

I approached this film with an open mind, hoping that it would be sort of pro-Agnosticism, or pro-Atheist, which would be slightly refreshing when culture is being controlled by the fear of Christian fundamentalism in Western societies. But I didn’t feel that. I hoped it it might be funny, truth is harsh and often unnecessary in day to day life – you don’t get too many second servings of pudding by describing the main course as ‘adequate’ do you ? but again I didn’t get that, Gervais was OK, Jennifer Garner (the gal he was chasin’) isn’t going to get any awards for best supporting actress in a romantic comedy, Rob Lowe played himself so on scale of zero to ten I give this a 2+, it killed a bit of time but I spent too much of the film asking myself “why am I sitting here?” and then looking at my watch hoping it would end soon so I could catch the early bus home.

That is until I got the credits, Hoorah !

It’s a pretty sad movie when the closing credits are the most interesting part of it, supporting Gervais and Garner in this boring stinker were

Jeffrey Tambour – he was the Father and the hippy Uncle in ‘Arrested Development’ (Gerorge and Oscar Bluth)

Tina Fey – of ’30 Rock’ fame, who also does a mean imitation Sarah Palin, she also writes gags for Saturday Night Live

Nathan Corddry – was in the cast of “Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip” he did a guest spot on 30 Rock as a gay cop room-mate of Tina Fey and had a recurring role in The United States Of Tara

Jason Bateman – you’ll know this dude from Teen Wolf Too, or if you have a long memory Little House On The Prairie, but Silver Spoons was his first big gig and that wasn’t widely viewed here in Australia but he was also the star of Arrested Development – Michael Bluth, you’ll probably know his twin Sister – Justine Bateman she’s had her face on the telly a lot of times as well, crap like Family Ties. He’s also Paul Anka’s son-in-law

Christopher Guest – from Spinal Tap (“these go to eleven !”), his brother Nicholas is a bit well-known he’s got 139 entries in the IMDB and he’s married to Jamie Lee Curtis

So if the best thing you can say about the film is “the credits at the end were good” then it’s probably better for you to save the $20 it’s going to cost you to see the film and spend it on something that will have a more enduring entertainment effect, like strong liquor or illicit drugs.

I got the movie poster from this guy http://skepacabra.wordpress.com/2009/09/ have a read of his stuff, at least his blog has a consistent theme.

And for Arrested Development fans there’s a movie version currently in post-production – Hoorah !