I love movies.  But lately, there hasn’t been much worth seeing.  No good westerns (like Open Range or 3:10 to Yuma); no epics like Lord of the Rings; I’ve already seen District 9 twice; and I hate all the Halloween slasher films (Saw XVII).  So, because last weekend was a “slow” movie weekend, Michelle and I had few options.  We decided to go with a film that we had some (not a lot) of interest in, and after watching it, I’m convinced that we’d have been better off watching the slasher flick in the next theater over.

We decided to see The Invention of Lying – a film with a pretty creative and somewhat fascinating premise.  No one in the world has ever lied.  There’s not even a word for lying.  Ever wonder what the world would be like if everyone said exactly what they were thinking?  Well, everyone in the film tells the truth, and the brutality with which they speak the truth to one another is somewhat uncomfortable but also pretty funny.  Everything changes, though, when Mark (Ricky Gervais) gets himself in a pinch, his brain misfires, and he actually lies.  As bizarre to him as it is to lie, he realizes that he’s on to something, and so he begins to lie about everything in order to get back his job and get the girl he wants.

Because no one has ever lied, people believe everything Mark tells them.  Not only does he use lies to get what he wants, but he also uses lying to comfort people – which is where the real problem with the film comes in.  His mother is dying, and instead of telling her the “truth” about what happens after death (nothing according to this movie), he “lies” to her and tells her that she will go to a better place where “The Man Upstairs” lives and where all of her loved ones are.  Of course, she believes him and is comforted, but some of the hospital workers hear him too, and because no one ever lies, they believe him and see him as some sort of prophet with special knowledge of the afterlife.

So, the rest of the movie follows him as his “lie” progresses.  People want to know more about “The Man Upstairs” and the afterlife, and so he builds upon his initial lie.  And the more he “lies”, the more what he says reflects what Christians believe to be true about God and eternity in heaven.  What I thought was going to be a smart and funny comedy turned out to be a blatant – and very unfunny – attack on the truths from God’s Word that I bank my life and ministry upon.

I think I would have rather watched a movie where the main character is attacked by a chainsaw than to have seen a movie where the main character brutally attacks my faith as was the case with The Invention of Lying.