Mark Bellison (Ricky Gervais) is a chubby little loser lacking in the usual dose of British self-deprecating humor. That’s because everybody in his world is brutally honest, including his date, Anna (Jennifer Garner) who never wants to see him again because he’s a chubby little loser. Oh, and he has a pudgy nose. His colleagues – an office full of PBS-type screenwriters… Brad Kessler (Rob Lowe) plays a sort of Alec “30 Rock” Baldwin, which is even more amusing since Tina Fey plays their assistant. The idea of everybody telling the truth is an interesting concept except when Bellison’s faced with a choice as his mother dies in a nursing home. He decides to invent a thing called lying – though he doesn’t quite have a name for it. But Bellison does indulge her and the doctor (Jason Bateman) with what life-after-death might be like. There will be a place with mansions, and all our loved ones will be reunited, and life will go on in this happy place, yada, yada, yada. Next thing Bellison knows, he’s got thousands of followers holding vigil on his front lawn and he’s asked to write his book of rules a.k.a. the Gospel from “the man upstairs.” Just like Matthew, Mark, Luke and John who were the screenwriters of their time, Bellison comes up with a tablet of rules for all the world to follow. Undoubtedly religious fanatics will be up in arms about this film, which is too bad because it’s pure brilliant. We learn that in the long run, aside from lying for money and sex, lying for love is just not worth it. This film will most likely be on my top ten films of the year. I’m being honest. And that’s the truth. Four tiaras
