DVD review: The Invention of Lying

Embarrassment is a given for Ricky Gervais's work, but at times here, you're embarrassed for him rather than with him. The funny moments here are almost all in the first half-hour, with brutal exchanges of ­unvarnished truth, especially on his first date with Jennifer Garner. This is a world in which a retirement home can be labelled A Sad Place for Hopeless Old People. But once the lie is invented, with an ­attendant ham-fisted attack on ­Christianity, it pads along with no fresh ideas and too many romcom cliches. With Gervais as co-director as well as ­co-writer this time, it lacks the sure touch David Koepp brought to the ­actor's ­debut, Ghost Town.