Would I Lie To You?

A world where no-one lies does give rise to some interesting possibilities. We do get a lot of social interactions which are amusing as people spend most of their time with facial observations, but it's really typified by the television. Ads are truthful, but there are no programs which are not documentaries, most of which are presented by someone reading the information (as there can be no actors pretending to be people they are not).

But I do wonder how humanity could have reached basically the present age like that. Mating rituals can't have developed into dating, and people know immediately if there is a chance or not, and given the number of arguments people get into anyway when the truth is involved, people would have to have been far more forgiving that given here.

However, given this world, we get the one chap who can lie. ("Invention"? Or "discovery"? Or "development"? Or "The genetic aberration that leads to the ability"... but that one might be a bit long.) What we get is, given this is only a 90 minute movie, some quick indications of what might happen. More interesting television for one. And more social lubricant along the lines of platitudes... which leads to a different take on religion.

Ultimately, this is still a movie that is a romantic comedy, so we have to see the two leads get together. However, there is a huge flaw with this movie, in that "truthness" is associated with "stupidity", and so the only rounded character is Mark (Ricky Gervais) and everyone else seems like a moron, including the lead Anna (Jennifer Garner), so that anyone would want to be with her other than for physical reasons (and the truth talking people do indicate that is the only reason to want her) is an ask too much. Thus, the basic template falls.

Ricky Gervais movies tend to be a bit of a struggle to get into, and while they can be enjoyed superficially, there is a lack of ultimate depth. This one is no exception.

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