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With little reason to hope for professional or personal success, Mark finds himself evicted from his apartment building, and must head to his local bank and withdraw all funds from his account in order to pay for his moving expenses. While speaking to a cheerful bank teller, Mark has an epiphany and finds himself telling the very first lie in the history of his world – withdrawing $800 from his account when he only has $300. Mark spends the next hour or so of the movie trying to figure out how to best utilize his newfound superpower. This ranges from the petty (one-upping his rival, Brad Kessler, at work) to the profound (telling his dying mother that there's peace and eternal happiness in the afterlife). The latter of those ends up inadvertently making Mark into a messiah-type character for everyone around the world, having accepted at face value that Mark has some sort of insight into what happens after you die. What ensues is drawn out sticky situation where Mark, à la the Monkey Paw, must deal with the unexpected consequences of his actions, all the while trying to figure out how to win the heart of Anna. If I've made the movie seem a little random and somewhat sitcom-y, well, it is. But that's part of the charm. A lot of humor stems from the tendency of most characters to speak their mind bluntly and without self-awareness. It's a lot of zingy, one-liner humor, but it manages to stay entertaining through the end. And yes, a lot of the religious references are corny and contrived, but the actors don't play them as corny and contrived. Of course, as with most British comedies, the movie's real strength lies in the actors. Rob Lowe is hilariously pompous as Brad Kessler, and both Tina Fey and Jason Bateman are extremely funny and memorable in their respective scenes. The supporting cast is universally fantastic. Best of all, Gervais and Garner make a wonderful onscreen pair. Their characters are both good-hearted, well-intentioned people who wrestle with what they can/cannot do and what they can/cannot have. To me, the best type of happy ending comes when two characters try their hardest to do the right thing against tough odds, and are ultimately rewarded with happiness. When this happens, a movie (and its characters) truly earns its happy ending. And that makes me happy. And this one did. Note: Some movies lose some impact when played on an airplane screen, and unfortunately, this one did. As I mentioned, a lot of the humor in this film comes from characters speaking truthfully about uncomfortable issues. For example, at one point, a casino employee openly tells Mark that the casino will likely win all his money. Certain written gags in the movie (slogans on advertising billboards, cardboard signs held by street bums, etc.) were hard to discern, and while I'm sure that these written one-liners were funny, I couldn't read them. A shame. Rating: 3 ½ stars.
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