Corrected entry: A major part of the movie is that religion is a lie that this world never had. Why then do they use the Gregorian calender? Mark writes movies about the 13th century; 13 centuries after what? If no one has ever believed in God or any god, then the life of Jesus becomes historically insignificant. Certainly not important enough to use the year of his birth as the starting point of the calender.
Corrected entry: If lying has not been invented why does the casino cheat, which is implied in the movie, and even though they are up front about it cheating is a form of lying.
Correction: If lying hasn't been invented, then cheating hasn't been invented. Therefore, in the world of the movie, the casino would simply have games designed to take your money, with heavy odds in favor of the house, with only slight odds that you will be rewarded. People would accept that casinos are there to take your money, and would take their chances. They wouldn't have any reason to think any differently. They blindly believe that everything is the truth, therefore they would blindly believe that this is how a casino operates. One could also argue that being totally open about cheating is not lying, only when you are cheating and pretending to play fair.
Corrected entry: When Ricky Gervais discovers he can lie, and is in the bar trying to explain this to the bartender and his friend, his beer is 3/4 full. By the end of the scene the beer is almost empty, and based on the speed of the conversation, he did not have time to drink the beer between shots of him. (00:23:20 - 00:24:35)
Correction: This is not a mistake, it's meant to show the passage of time. That's why at the end he's leaning on his hand and frustrated and his last lie becomes extremely exaggerated.
Corrected entry: Since religion is an entirely new concept, why is the minister at the wedding wearing a Christian cross? Everything else about the church reflects on Mark's teachings.
Correction: Its not a "Christian cross" or a crucifix, Its supposed to be a representation of Mark holding the pizza boxes, just like in the big blatantly obvious stained glass windows directly behind the person.
Corrected entry: In wide shots of the city there are several religious buildings in the shot.
Correction: Several public buildings in the real world such as city halls, universities, museums, etc. can look like places of worship without being one, by having a similar architecture. It is possible that in the context of the movie, that's what these buildings are.
Corrected entry: Wouldn't Mark's revelations about the afterlife lead to mass suicides? Unless I missed the part where Mark stated that suicide is against the "man-in-the-sky's" rules, this is a major plot hole that cannot be overlooked. Early in the movie Frank even mentions different suicide attempts. Why didn't Gervais and Robinson include a suicide rule in the screenplay? It would have been both logical and simple.
Correction: He say that killing is bad and by doing bad things you will not get your own mansion. so killing ones self would fall into the killing is bad catergory.
Correction: This is entirely based on opinion. While, no, religion doesn't exist, it cannot be stated that therefore they cannot use that calendar. Maybe, in their universe, Jesus, while not considered a religious figure, is revered as a great philosopher, hence the decision to base their calendar on his birth year. As no information exists in the movie about why they chose it, but an absence of information does not automatically make a plot hole. At best, this is a question. It's certainly not strong enough to be a mistake.
Tailkinker ★