The Invention of Lying (2009)

It's Ricky Gervais written, directed and acted, do I really need to say more. This movie uses his type of comedy to its fullest and it's really funny.

Gervais is Mark Bellison, a shlubbish screenwriter who doesn't really have any success at it. He lives in a world where lying just does not exist. People are incapable of lying. As Mark has no luck with women, he's just gotten fired and is about to be evicted, he's goes to the bank to get what little money he has out of his account. Then, something clicks in his brain and he says the world's first lie. This leads to more success and a chance to get close to Anna (Jennifer Garner). Through a series of unfortunate events, the movie takes an ideological turn for the worse...and the hilarious.

This movie can definitely draw comparisons to Monty Python's Life of Brian. However, Gervais still keeps the humor all of his own. It's witty, biting and smart. Garner was great as she had to keep playing it straight the whole time. Rob Lowe, Tina Fey, Louis CK and a few other cameos kept the movie's tone and helped make it more enjoyable. I recommend this movie to comedy fans.

Ghost Town (2008)

To say this is a romantic comedy, as it's listed on IMDB, is actually a bit of a stretch. This seems more like just a vehicle for Gervais' dry British wit and it works. While it has a lot of the same elements as most movies in the "ghost" genre (man sees ghosts and has to help them), it's also different in a few ways.

Gervais' character, Bertram, never wants to help any of them. As annoyed as he is with real people, he's even more so by all these ghosts. Greg Kinnear (Frank) is the one ghost who is above all the rest and he wants he widow (Tea Leoni) to just be happy in life. That's where Frank thinks Bertram will come in handy.

This was a good movie and the reason was all Ricky Gervais. His shy-guy character really works here and it'll be interesting to see if more movies can utilize it like this one did.