Beyond a shadow of a doubt movie i promise to tell the truth the whole truth so help me god9/22/2023 The rhythms and flow of human interaction, where one can choose to exaggerate or self-edit, vanish during the first act and while it eventually settles into something that feels more comfortable as the film progresses, it never really sounds note-perfect. For the first third of the film, most conversations seem like the second or third reading of a stageplay, stilted and disjointed, overly practiced. It's a simple inconsistency, but it contributes greatly to a larger problem with the film early on… The constant honesty just never sounds natural. Often, characters will say exactly what they're thinking, entirely unbidden, simply for the sake of the joke, like Jennifer Garner opening the door and announcing her disappointment with Gervais' physical appearance, or a waitress greeting an attractive customer by preemptively stating, "I'm threatened by you." One might assume that people simply have an inability to be polite or choose not to say what they're thinking, but some characters clearly do put off telling the truth to avoid a lie. It's never clearly stated whether the people in this world simply cannot lie, or whether they're compulsively honest. Granted, it can sometimes stumble into intriguing, rather thoughtful territory, but for the most part, it becomes bogged down in its own muddled logic. It's an idea that bares absolutely no more scrutiny than exactly what's put on the screen, and even then, the film occasionally stumbles over its own conceit. It has an intriguing, hugely pitchable premise, but upon examination, one begins to see just how unwieldy that concept can become when applied to a living, breathing society. In that regard, The Invention of Lying is like a poorly produced pop song with an incredibly catchy hook.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |