Weirdness hits immediately in “The Invention of Lying.” The film equates the opposite of fibbing as some sort of unfiltered monologue, allowing the bearer of bad news to barf up every last unkind thought they’ve ever owned. That’s not lying. But that’s nitpicking, which is like bringing a gun to this knife fight. A softly considered religious farce, “Lying” is light on the laughs and smothering with its mockery, making for an uneven picture that’s too consumed with its own cleverness to launch a proper satiric sneak attack on the audience.
BRIAN ORNDORF 