Beyond the overarching premise of The Invention of Lying is a plea, just like the plea in Knocked Up or Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It's when a Hollywood film actually lets a mediocre looking man, with lots of heart, charisma and humour form a lasting bond with a kind, gorgeous woman. I love the idea; I love breaking the boundaries of the beauty standard, but my only wish is that it could happen the other way around. Why can't a girl, who's perhaps "ugly" (though charming and kind) get the hot guy? Not a movie where the ugly duckling is magically transformed into a gorgeous prom date, or a princess, but one where an everyday girl gets the guy without changing who she is. If there's a movie out there where this happens, please let me know. I realize that standards of beauty are ever changing, that one person's sex dream is another's worst nightmare, but wouldn't it be nice if a woman like Jason Segal or Ricky Gervais got a guy like Mila Kunis?Tangents aside, this was a nice turn on the romantic comedy, though the narrative was not particularly outstanding. About an hour in I got so bored I decided to cook dinner, and though the rest of the film was relatively painless, it didn't wow me. Ricky Gervais was the saving grace, and numerous comedians and actors (Louis C.K., Jeffrey Tambor, Tina Fey, Philip Seymour Hoffman) added a little punch, but the story itself piqued and then lost my interest quite quickly. However, I must say I enjoyed Edward Norton's very random and short turn as a cocaine addicted policeman.
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