n3vermind

I did kind of know what I was getting in to as I watched Indie Game a while ago. I wouldn't say it was a masterpiece of a documentary, but I enjoyed watching the "about to make it"-story.

This however, has no purpose. Well that's not true, the purpose is of course to show you what happens, once you have made it. Unfortunately it loses it's way and becomes less (if at all), about indie game developers, and more about a couple of guys who have been trolled on the internet and want to troll back.

It does get over that hump, but it's just too huge a chunk padded with entire YouTube clips (first you get highlights of the clips only to show them in their entirety).

I'm sorry, this was just uninspired and really had nothing to say. Having said that, I was just happy to see the developers got paid off for their hard work.

I was actually in to the film for about 30 minutes but at 1 hour and 10 minutes I turned to my wife and said: "is anything actually happening?". And well the truth is that nothing actually was.

I understand this is based on a novel and I can see this working really well on page, no doubt. I also have to respect Peter Jackson for thinking he could bring it to life but that is as far as I am willing to go.

There is this classic struggle going on from the director about trying to add a storyline that we, the audience, can become a part of. This can be seen by the amount of cgi that is put in to try and grab us. I suspect this is because Mr. Jackson was painfully aware that there was nothing else for us to sink our teeth into.

I don't think I can really recommend any segment out there to watch this because in the end you are left with some decent acting performances and a really good one (obviously) but also a story that can be complete told using 20 words or less and 2 hours is simply too long to try and stretch it to.

Don't spend money on this movie, catch it on TV when it airs, I'm sure that won't be too long :).

Ricky Gervais will no doubt, go down in history as a comedian's comedian and this movie will be one of the reasons why.

I don't know what I was expecting when I popped this on in, I guess all I knew was that I liked The Office and loved Extras. And I suppose you really should enjoy either of those if you are to have any chance of enjoying yourself throughout The Invention of Lying.

It is in no way recycling either of those two shows but Ricky does have a very specific and unique style that seems to shine through in anything he does. Everything is always toned down, nothing is designed to get your heart racing in fact it seems that Mr. Gervais wants just the opposite. With soft speech and controlled movements he seems to be taking extra precautions to make sure we are paying attention to every little comedic nugget he's dishing out non-stop. And we are!

I'm sorry, trying to define Ricky's comedy isn't really up to a guy like me as I am now just a fan and this movie put me over the top.

This movie is for anyone who enjoys a wrinkled thought taken right to the limit of where it can go. What if a lie was inconceivable? What a fun thought as a jump off point to dive into all these heavy contemplations about love, death, faith, failure, success and honesty.

All this might sound too heavy to be a comedy and it almost is if it wasn't for Ricky Gervais. I firmly believe he is the only comedian right now who is able to do a comedy like this and get away with it. Lots of others have tried their luck with this close to crossover movie and you have probably seen one of them. Just think of your favorite comedian who suddenly tried to make a movie with more substance but stay a comedy and then think about how horrible the end result was.

Ricky pulls this one off rather well and I am looking forward to seeing this movie again to enjoy the fun world free from lies but also to enjoy the emotional journey we take with Ricky.

I am giving this movie a solid 8/10 with the only subtractions being that about 15-20 minutes could easily have been cut without taking anything away from the story or characters but was obviously kept in for a laugh. And that's the only thing that keeps this movie from reaching a 10, that is the fact that Ricky doesn't want to lose any of it, not the drama and not the comedy, he likes both equally it seems and he is reluctant to sacrifice either in order to make the ride more smooth.

See this movie with this stuff in mind and I don't think you can go wrong. Ricky will be around for a little while and I'll be waiting for his next move with great anticipation.