Currently browsing the "Jennifer Garner" tag.

Arthur

Valentine’s Day

Garry Marshall is brilliant. He made a mildly entertaining movie with an A-List cast and a name that virtually guarantees it a place in holiday rerun history. Valentine’s Day is like Crash-light. Really, really, really light. It follows a bunch of folks whose lives intersect in various ways as they break up, make up, find love or survive singledom on Valentine’s Day in Los Angeles.

The Invention of Lying

In The Invention of Lying no one in the entire world has ever told a lie, until some strange twist allows one loser, just fired from his job and about to be evicted from his apartment, to figure out that it is not only possible, but extremely advantageous to him to dissemble. The loser in question is played by Ricky Gervais who also co-wrote and co-directed the film, which is sometimes funny but very uneven. At its most basic this is a story of a loser, Mark Bellison (Rick Gervais), who cannot get the beautiful girl Anna McDoogles (Jennifer Garner) because he is not classically attractive and wealthy. In this world where people cannot lie the beautiful get ahead and the unattractive lose. It is only through lying that Mark gets the girl. The characters in the film say just what we all think; “You’re ugly.” “I am way to good for you.” “There is no way I’d sleep with someone like you.” Brutal honesty is the norm. The concept is one that makes you think of all the times and places that a lie may be a good thing.