This movie would be worth the price of admission for the first five minutes. Imagine a world in which no one ever lies. Ever. No flattery, so "sweet truth," only the stark, honest truth at every moment.
Now imagine being a nice but somewhat chubby Ricky Gervais arriving early for his date with Jennifer Garner. Imagine it going sorta like this: Anna: Hi. You're early. I was just masturbating. Mark: That...makes me think of your vagina. I'm Mark. How are you? Anna: A little frustrated at the moment. Also equally depressed and pessimistic about our date tonight. I'm Anna. Come on in. Mark: Just wait there. I need to finish getting ready. While doing that I might realize that I'm still horny and try to finish masturbating without you hearing. That is what pretty much every date you ever had in your life would have been like if you lived in a world where no one ever lied. People say that they dislike lying. They're lying. Either that or they are fools who have never realized the important part that lying plays in everyday life. Lying greases the wheels of social interaction. When someone you really don't feel like spending the next four hours with asks "How are you" on a day you've spent dodging the shit flying off of innumerable fans, do you really tell him how you are or do you say "Fine?" When someone opens the door and finds him- or herself so disappointed by their blind date (you) they need to go masturbate before spending time with you, do you really want them to tell you? Well, in Ricky Gervais' imagined world, that is exactly what happens. Until one day he invents the world's first lie. And in so doing invents religion, and reinvents the world. For a while, and with about the same success as all other religions have reinvented the world. This is a more thoughtful film than the audiences who will see it. It's not a great film, and I don't expect it to do all that well at the box office. But it's very sweet and I think a few discerning folks here would like it. And that's not a lie.
