It's not unusual for any actor to tell you how much they've enjoyed working on a film, and that's always great to hear. But you also have to in some cases take what you hear for what it's worth, and measure it's validity with a grain of salt.

But there's absolutely no reason Rob Lowe needs to add artificial flavoring to his thoughts about his role in "The Invention of Lying," a comedy that presented the veteran film and television star a rare commodity in show business: an original script.

"What I like about the script is that it's really subversive," Lowe said in a recent @ The Movies interview. "What it is implying, sometimes subtly and sometimes not so subtly, about everything from morality and organized religion, to politics and personal friendships is really subversive and sort of deep. And to do that in wrapped up in a comedy is really unusual in today's moviemaking climate."

Co-written and co-directed and by Ricky Gervais and first-time filmmaker Matthew Robinson, "The Invention of Lying" follows the exploits of Mark (Gervais), a writer who slogs through day-to-day life in a world where everyone -- everyone -- tells the truth. But when Mark learns how to actually lie and uses it for personal gain, his newfound fame and fortune comes in quite handy. That is, until he realizes that his lying has unintended consequences.

In the film, opening Friday, Lowe plays Brad, a handsome colleague of Mark's who antagonizes his fellow writer with his brutal yet truthful comments, and even worse, his advances on Anna (Jennifer Garner), the girl of Mark's dreams.

"'The Invention of Lying' has an interesting concept, but what's even better is the way that it's executed," Lowe said. "Not only are people telling the truth, but when they are, there is no price to be paid. When I tell Jennifer Garner's character, 'Look, 'I know you're not fat now but you could be fat in 10 years, so don't order the chicken, just have a salad,' she doesn't go 'Oh my God!' she just goes, 'Oh thank you, you're absolutely right,' that's a very hip conceit. It's really funny."

The irony, Lowe said, is that sort of brutal honesty in almost spurned in touchy-feeling thing we call real life.

"You're not going to have people telling the truth before you get rid of political correctness, and I don't see that happening any time soon," Lowe quipped.

The interesting thing about Brad in "The Invention of Lying" is that he's clearly the enemy of Mark to us moviegoers -- but within the fantastical confines of the movie, he's just a guy who is being honest. But what Lowe loves about the character is that underneath it all, there's something more.

"He's just a guy calling a spade a spade, who, more importantly, has his on neurosis and vulnerabilities, which he shares with Ricky's character, Mark," Lowe explained. "The reason Brad hates him so much is that there's something about that Mark threatens him. Because Brad says that explicitly out loud, it made me fall in love with the character. It made him not just another good-looking bad guy."

A mainstay in movies and television since the 1980s, Lowe, 45, has had his share of both dramatic and comedy roles. And while acting is ultimately an exercise in being somebody else, the key to any actor's success is being true to the character. And in the case of "The Invention of Lying," Lowe knew that if he were to be successful in the comedy, the worst thing he could do was to try to be funny.

"It's deadly. Every once in a while you'll see somebody trying to be funny and it just reminds you that you don't ever want to get caught working," Lowe said. "The great ones in comedy work really, really hard at making it look easy."

Needless to say, that's why Lowe enjoyed seeing Gervais in action in "The Invention of Lying." And the bonus was that Gervais invited Lowe to play along when the British funnyman slipped into his classic improvisational mode.

"He really liked for us to improvise and make it our own," Lowe said. "That's why the movie feels so fresh and out-of-the-box."