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Liar Liar

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Liar Liar (1997) is an American comedy film starring Jim Carrey. It was directed by Tom Shadyac from a story written by Paul Guay and Stephen Mazur. Carrey was nominated for a Golden Globe Award (1998) for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical. The film is the second of three collaborations between Jim Carrey and Tom Shadyac, the first being Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and the third being Bruce Almighty.

Plot synopsis

Fletcher Reede (Carrey) is a particularly career-focused lawyer and divorced father. He has a habit of giving precedence to his job, breaking promises to his young son Max and then lying to both Max and his ex-wife Audrey about the real reason he missed the get-together. Fletcher lets Max down once too often, missing his birthday party, and has to deal with the consequences of a wish Max makes while blowing out the candles on his cake that actually comes true. The wish is that Fletcher cannot tell a lie for an entire day. The plot is reminiscent of The Twilight Zone episode "The Whole Truth," which involves a used car salesman being forced into uninhibited honesty by a haunted car.

Fletcher soon has several embarrassing instances where he blurts out exactly what he is thinking and figures out that he is unable to lie or even withhold a true answer. These incidents come at a rather bad time as he is fighting a divorce case in court, which, should he win, could be a huge boost to his career. His main witness is willing to commit perjury to help win but Fletcher discovers he cannot even ask a question if he knows the answer will be a lie. Meanwhile, Audrey is threatening to move to Boston with her new boyfriend, Jerry, and take Max with them.

Over the course of the film, Fletcher realizes what is truly important to him and, at the end, struggles to stop his son from being taken so far away from him. He also manages to win the case truthfully by using a loophole in the law (namely that his client had lied about her age and was 17 when she signed the prenuptial agreement), with the repercussions being a major catalyst to his understanding of what he is likely to lose. When he sees the results of winning the case (the mother of the children decides to sue for custody and tries to stop them saying goodbye to their father), he ends up shouting at the judge to reverse the decision and gets thrown in jail for contempt in court. When telephoning Audrey to bail him, she refuses. However, Greta turns up and bails him.

Near the end, Fletcher hijacks a stairway used to get onto planes and rushes towards his son. He is injured after an accident but does manage to speak to his son. The "Curse" finishes at 8:15 pm, but Fletcher vows to tell nothing but the truth from now on, and, a year later, he is shown at his son's next birthday party enjoying a far closer relationship with Max, while he and Audrey share a kiss after Max blows out his candles. Fletcher initially suspects Max of wishing them back together, but when they discover that he didn't (he wished for some roller skates instead) the two realize that their feelings are genuine.

Reception

The film received mostly positive reviews from critics with a "Fresh" score of 79% on Rotten Tomatoes and a "Fresh" score of 85% of the Cream Of The Crop from major news outlets. And a "Fresh" score of 81% from the user's. Critics such as Roger Ebert stated, "I am gradually developing a suspicion, or perhaps it is a fear, that Jim Carrey is growing on me" for which Roger Ebert has previously gave bad reviews on past Jim Carrey films like Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Dumb and Dumber.

Box Office Performance

The film did well at the box office: the opening weekend made $31,423,025 in 2,845 theaters. Domestically the film made $181,410,615, and at the foreign box office it made $121,300,000 - altogether the film made $302,710,615.

References in Other Movies

Soundtrack

John Debney's work on the film's soundtrack has become a cult favorite in underground music and among indie music groups. Most notably, Brandon Flowers of the rock band the Killers is rumored to be a big fan of Debney's work on the soundtrack, however, Bob Dylan and U2's Bono have also been claimed by some to be fans.

Cast

External links



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Last updated on Thursday March 13, 2008 at 03:56:51 PDT (GMT -0700)
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