Blu-Ray Review:
The Invention of Lying
By Jason Gillard
*Screenshots are not from the Blu-Ray source.
Movie
Current Rottentomatoes.com score 57% Fresh: 92 Rotten: 70
"The Invention of Lying" takes place in an alternate reality in which lying--even the concept of a lie--does not exist. Everyone--from politicians to advertisers to the man and woman on the street--speaks the truth and nothing but the truth with no thought of the consequences. But when a down-on-his-luck loser named Mark (Gervais) suddenly develops the ability to lie, he finds that dishonesty has its rewards. In a world where every word is assumed to be the absolute truth, Mark easily lies his way to fame and fortune. But lies have a way of spreading, and Mark begins to realize that things are getting a little out of control when some of his tallest tales are being taken as, well, gospel. With the entire world now hanging on his every word, there is only one thing Mark has not been able to lie his way into: the heart of the woman he loves.
First off let me say that I am a big Ricky Gervais fan! So I was really looking forward to this film as it was the first one he had directed. The last film Gervais was in "Ghost Town" was a great flick and took a lot of people by surprise. Gervais is well known for his dry sense of humor. If you like British humor you will like this film. First of all the premise is really funny. It's quite funny to see everyone saying the truth and it just goes to show you how much we don't say the truth to each other. For instance when a waiter brings a drink to their table he tells them that he had a little sip out of it! Or for example a women says " Wow, I just got done taking the biggest poop of my life. Now what were we eating" It would be really weird to live in this world. Overall I thought the movie was quite funny and if you like Ricky Gervais and his type of humour I am sure you will get a kick out of this movie.
8 out of 10
Video
The Invention of Lying arrives on Blu-ray in its original aspect ratio of 1:85.1. The 1080p transfer is a rather bland one at that. Colours for the most part are adequate. Black levels are good. But detail can be a hit or miss affair. Closeups can range from great detail, worthy of an HD transfer to soft and somewhat murky. I am not sure if it's just the design of this film or the transfer but everything seems kind of flat. Flesh tones appear natural throughout. Textures on things like grass or buildings seem to be not very well defined, so it could be excessive use of DNR. Other than that I did not see any other really big problems with the disc. Digital noise, banding, aliasing and the like are not present. I just found the transfer to be overly bland with nothing that really stood out at me. Just be aware if your buying this movie for it's impressive HD transfer you might be disappointed.
6 out of 10
Audio
Warner has given us a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track that really is just as bland as the video. The problem I had with the video is the same as the audio in that nothing really stands out. I have to remember that this is a comedy and comedies are certainly not known for their sound design. On a positive note dialogue is sharp and clear throughout. This is important because most of this movie is dialogue, so if that part had come up short then we would really be in trouble. The LFE channel is there but not very active. For the most part it is lending weight to people's voices or the occasional music montage in the film. There are several scenes in the film that would have benefited from having the rear speakers chime in a little. There are scenes with big crowds, scenes in a office etc. But unfortunately the rear speakers do very little in creating a convincing sound field for the listener. Pans from speaker to speaker are pretty transparent which is nice. This track is adequate but it would have been nice if they did a little more in the sound design department.
7 out of 10
Extras
Here is what's available in the way of extras:
Prequel: The Dawn of Lying
Meet Karl Pilkington
A Truly Honest Making-of Featurette
Additional Footage
Ricky and Matt's Video Podcasts
More Laughter
Here is the part where I tell you, that even though the disc comes up short in the video and audio department, the extras are here to save the day. Unfortunately that's not the case. First off there are no Blu-ray exclusives here. Everything is the same that you will find on the DVD and in SD ugh! Prequel: The Dawn of Lying is really not funny! It is a tiny short where the cast play cavemen discovering lying for the first time. I am a big fan of the Ricky Gervais Show podcasts so the Meet Karl Pilkington feature was fun for me. But if you don't know anything about the show you may be asking yourself "why I am watching this". A Truly Honest Making-of Featurette is funny but too short. In this feature the cast discuss Gervais’ various habits and what he is like as a director. They also discuss his odd obsession with Nerf Wars. Some of the deleted scenes in Additional Footage are worth your while and quite entertaining. I found Ricky and Matt's Video Podcasts to be quite boring actually. More Laughter is your standard outtakes, but there are some funny moments. Overall not much care and attention have been paid to these extras and I would have loved a Gervais commentary with Karl Pilkington and Stephen Merchent.
5 out of 10
Overall
I wish I could recommend this disc based on the movie alone, because I did like the movie. But the video, audio and extras are not worth the dollars we spend on Blu-ray discs. If you liked the movie and are going to buy it, then the Blu-ray is probably the way to go, because I am sure it's better than the DVD. So I am going to say pass on this one unless you're a big fan of the movie.
6 out of 10