Can we talk?

The Invention of Lying

         Up until tonight, all of my knowledge about Ricky Gervais was from Sesame Street. When my first great niece was little, she loved Elmo. She would sit in my lap at the computer and we watched Elmo short videos over and over. One had Katy Perry. One featured Ricky Gervais singing rock music to Elmo just as he was about to fall asleep.

         I knew about Katy Perry and recognized her songs on the radio. I had a grown brother with a crush on her. But I had to ask around about Ricky Gervais. I've seen him since on quick cameos on TV.

         Tonight I saw him starring in a move from 2009 or 2010. I can see why I hadn't heard of the movie before. It was a pretty shallow story. Rob Lowe was cast in a role he does so well, self-centered pretty boy. Tina Fey had a short obvious role. Gervais wasn't bad as the quiet, reserved fellow with low self-esteem. In the end the short chubby guy gets the pretty girl, and everyone lives happily ever after. Only the girl's character is developed, and not very deeply at that.

         The premise raised some questions though. What would it be like to live in a world where no one understands lying and just can't do it? No one would cheat on his time card or his taxes. Someone would always tell you when you have spinach in your teeth. If you're having a bad hair day, someone would tell you. If your new pants make your butt look wider, half a dozen people would tell you. They wouldn't tell you the dog ate their homework. They would answer all your questions accurately. No one could lie about the ding in your car fender.

         On the larger scale, they couldn't lie about nuclear weapons or taking bribes. Would this mean that politicians would cease to exist? The movie's story didn't rule out all "bad things"; that's the phrase from the movie. Only the concept of lying was removed. So detectives wouldn't be necessary, since all the criminals would be confessing.

         It was just a silly movie. But it does give pause to ponder.