The only movies that need voice-overs, the background chatter from one of the main characters to explain what’s going on, fall generally into one of two camps: they’re either film noir detective movies, or they’re not very good. Or (I’m all about giving you options) in the case of the Dennis Quaid sort-of detective flick D.O.A., they can be both. Blade Runner, for all its worth in ground-breaking visuals, was originally released in a version heavily larded with narration that seems meant to add atmosphere and make it edgy. Instead, it deflated the wonder of the visuals and made the story sound drab and boring.

A voice-over doesn’t automatically doom a movie to craptitude. I like to think an inventive director can overcome just about any obstacle. Sam Mendes had Kevin Spacey narrate American Beauty, for instance, and it not only turned out okay, I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have worked without the voice-over. I’ve tried to imagine the movie without it and I can’t.

Unlike, say, The Invention Of Lying, a Ricky Gervais movie we watched the other night. As soon as I heard Gervais introducing the movie by stating the premise — he lives in a world where everyone says exactly what they’re thinking, which was pretty obvious, given the title — I thought, “Let’s see how this would play out if it didn’t have a voice-over.” I did a quick rewind in my head after the first few scenes and I think I can say that this movie would not only not suffer if you turned the sound off for the first minute or two, it would be better.

But only a little better. This is one of those movies that has its good moments, but unfortunately that’s about all it’s got. The scenes play out like comic sketches that would have stood alone on a Saturday night comedy show just fine, but as a movie they didn’t quite come together. Too bad.