The Invention of Lying

This movie was certainly not what I expected.  The basic concept begins "in a world" where no one lies and no one even understands the concept of "saying something that isn't."  Not only that, but everyone is brutally honest, saying whatever is on their mind, whether they were asked or not.  This is a world of dreary, bored people that are more often than not depressed.  There is also a distinct line drawn between "losers" and more successful people since apparently the only way a loser could become something more would be to lie about themselves.

British funny man, Ricky Gervais, stars in this distinctly English flavored romantic satire dramedy and also penned the screen play.  The story begins with Mark (Gervais) going out on a date with painfully out of his league Anna (Jennifer Garner).  Due to the nature of the world they live in, both know that the date is going nowhere before it even starts, but they proceed for the sake of it.  Though she admits to having a better time than she expected, Anna could never be with a loser like Mark and that seems to be the end of that.  Following that depressing scenario, Mark soon loses his job as a screenwriter due to the fact that his assigned material is not interesting enough since movies are simply someone recounting historical facts in a world where nothing is made up.  Jobless and broke, Mark faces eviction.  At the bank, getting ready to withdraw his last few hundred dollars, something somehow clicks and he simply tells the teller he has more money than he really does.  Not realizing it is possible to say something that isn't, she apologizes for the error and hands over the cash.  Mark suddenly finds himself in possession of a great power that allows him to do anything or anyone he wants by simply opening his mouth.

For Mark, lying produces pretty much nothing but good as he becomes rich and famous, and makes other people happy by telling them what they want to hear, regardless of truth.  He catapults through the rest of the plot, aided by a plethora of cameo characters from Tina Fey to Edward Norton (genius) and Jonah Hill to Christopher Guest.  Of course, what he really wants is Anna, but that's only to make this seem like a romantic comedy.  What this movie really is, is a satire surrounding what happens when Mark accidentally invents religion.

Normally I enjoy a good satire, but this one left a bad taste in my mouth despite the somewhat clever flavoring reminiscent of the late great Douglas Adams.  Maybe it had to do with the moral of the story being "lying is good" and "religion is probably just a lie someone told to make someone else feel better and it got a bit out of hand."  It had so much potential but ended up as a cheap shot at mocking Christianity while masquerading as a clever satire that was masquerading as a romantic comedy.  A good satire doesn't just make fun - it makes valid points, and I don't feel that this made many at all.

There were some parts I enjoyed, and even the irreverent comedy was done in that classy way that only the Brits can seem to pull off, but really, it felt like I was just watching something that was coming up with as many ways as possible to tell me I'm stupid for believing in God and/or bothering to worry about whether or not I'm telling the truth, and that made even the clever and funny parts less enjoyable.  I realize it's just a movie with a somewhat cheeky point of view, but that point of view still made it harder to enjoy.  If you want my rating of this based purely on technical merit as a movie, without my personal feelings involved you can add one star to my rating, but really, there are so many better movies.

**(2/5 stars)

Extract

Between the two blizzards of 2010 keeping Netflix from my door and then not writing this review immediately, it has been a little while since I got a review up, but I'm not sure it was worth the wait.

I'm a big fan of Mike Judge's other forays onto the big screen - Office Space and Idiocracy - and so I was looking forward to the next in his vein of "funny because they're true, but still ridiculous enough to make good entertainment" movies.  They're movies in which things that happen feel like they could actually happen, unlike the world in which Apatow lives.

Extract stars Jason Bateman, perhaps best known for his role on Arrested Development, as Joel Reynolds, owner of an extract plant.  Not only must he deal with unruly employees and the general stress of running a business, he hasn't had any extra curricular activities with his wife (Kristen Wiig of SNL) for quite some time and has the world's most annoying neighbor on top of that.  His drinking buddy, a long haired Ben Affleck, comes up with a solution to his marital problems that involves having an affair with the new employee (Mila Kunis) and seemed like a good idea at the time.  Mostly because at the time, the odd effects of horse tranquilizers were involved.  Things for Joel just go downhill from there.

I was expecting hilarity, but was somewhat disappointed.  Parts of this movie were funny, but it never really felt cohesive.  It was more like a sketch comedy that failed in linking the sketches into the bigger picture they were supposed to be.  There were certain parts that were gold, like the factory line women who would refuse to turn off the line when it got backed up because "why should they do their job when other people obviously weren't doing theirs?"  I think we all know at least one person like that.  Much of it, though, was just above forgettable.  Maybe I'm being a bit harsh, since it wasn't a "bad" movie, per se, but Judge is capable of so much better.

** (2/5 stars)

Peter Pan (2003)

This semi-recent adaptation of the classic tale of Peter Pan is not for everyone.  In many ways it is very similar to the stage production, but it is much darker in some ways and a bit disturbing in others.  For the most part, the characters come to life in a way that feels very appropriate.  Jeremy Sumpter is arrogant and self centered as Peter and Rachel Hurd-Wood is pleasant yet naive as Wendy Darling.  Ludivine Sagnier is appropriately bitchy as the jealous fairy Tinker Bell and Jason Isaacs, who would later play another major villain - Lucius Malfoy - is wonderfully evil as Captain James Hook.  In a move that I thought worked rather well, he also plays Wendy's father, Mr. Darling.  There were not many other major players in this production and most of the other characters, from Tiger Lily, to Smee, to Michael Darling were all very secondary to the story.  This was about Wendy, Peter and Hook.

This could almost be considered an art film version of J.M. Barrie's timeless story. In what I can only assume was a bid to create a more fairy tale/children's imagination version of Never Never Land, much of the scenery was obviously animated, though not quite in a Bedknobs and Brooksticks fashion.  It was sort of a "this is almost real, but not quite" feel.  The color pallet, too, made extensive use of the whole blue/orange phenomenon to a degree that rivals what we've seen so far of the other Avatar movie - M. Night Shyamalan's Last Air Bender.  There is also a bit of steampunk going on here and there which I though fit in quite nicely with the world of Peter Pan.

This movie is rated PG and certainly deserves it.  From brief nudity to excessive killing to surprisingly creepy scenes, this is certainly not the Disney version that so many of us grew up on.  There is also a somewhat disturbing romance thing going on between Peter and Wendy that is just a stretch beyond the innocent curiosity children of their age should be exhibiting.  I didn't notice it so much the first time I watched this in theatres, but it stood out more this time around.

There's not much to say about the story.  This is Peter Pan, pretty plain and simple.  No real surprises except when Hook gains an unexpected advantage during the final battle.  The acting is great, and the pace is mostly spot on if a little rushed here and there.

Over all I liked this movie and thought it was very well done.  Like I said, it does have an odd flavor that might leave a bad taste in some people's mouth's, but it is worth checking out if you like a fairy tale that is a bit closer to the disturbing roots of the likes of the original Grimm Brothers.

**** (4/5 stars)

Run Lola Run

A German film from the late '90s, Run Lola Run has become something of a cult classic and I was excited to sit down and watch it.  Franka Potente - you may know her better from the Bourne trilogy where she played Marie - is the title character whose boyfriend is in "deep slime" to quote the television edit of Office Space.

Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu) is Lola's boyfriend who is apparently hoping to prove himself in the world of organized crime.  Through some unfortunate circumstances he owes a mobster a large amount of money and if he doesn't have it in the next twenty minutes, his head is gonna roll.  Being the only one he can turn to, Lola takes off running, determined to come up with the cash somehow in order to save him.

What follows is an odd action montage that mainly consists of Lola running and unusual/uncomfortable circumstances occurring along the way, including finding out that her father is leaving them.  If this was my only experience with German cinema I would conclude that it is a lot like French films, but with much less nudity and much more techno music.  It certainly had that odd European flavor to it that has to do with focusing on bizarre pieces of characters' lives before fleeting off, likely not to revisit them.

I knew about the twist going into the movie but I won't spoil it here.  The twist, which is the element of the movie that made it stand out, is never actually explained, you just have to accept that it happens.  It's never really fully realized either and I think had much more potential.  The whole thing felt a little silly - though I concede that because I was eating dinner while watching I had it playing with the English dub so that I wouldn't have to read subtitles and the dubbing was sort of almost terrible.

Run Lola Run was more or less enjoyable, but I don't see it deserving of the near unanimous praise that gets heaped upon it.  It never quite decides if it is an art film or an action piece.  I also never really find myself caring about Manni so there is little invested in what happens in the end of Lola's run.

It was worth watching, but not as great as I expected.

***(3/5 stars)