Ok, well I thought I would fit in a very quick re-edited post of a film I reviewed almost 10 years ago on this blog, Liar Liar starring Jim Carrey as a sleazy lawyer who is forced to tell the truth for one whole day. So, having recently watched it again, I figured I would update my review and I will continue to update it in the New Year to finish it off, as I type this close to midnight on New Years' Eve!
So, with that said let's take another look at this film and see how it fairs 27 (or 28) years later...
So. the warning is coming...
PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!
STORY
So the film begins with Fletcher Reede (Carrey) its main character who
is an ambitious lawyer but is also a compulsive liar which causes
tension between his ex-wife Audrey (Maura Tierney) and his young son Max
(Justin Cooper) as he often breaks his promises to them. Fletcher
however in his work is in a promising position to gain a big promotion
as he is given a client Samantha Cole (Jennifer Tilly) who is a
two-timing divorcee who is looking to try and secure very wealthy
marital assets from her ex-husband. And while Samantha is initially
willing to play fair with her ex-husband Fletcher persuades her to be
ruthless and go after all she can get, which impresses another attorney,
Miranda (Amanda Donohoe). Fletcher makes another promise to Max that
he will try and make it for his birthday but instead he is caught up
with Miranda and they have sex and he calls up and lies again to
Audrey. This leaves Max feeling dejected and when making a birthday
wish he wishes that for one whole day his dad couldn't tell a lie.
However the wish suddenly becomes true as after Fletcher has had sex
with Miranda and she asks if it was good for him he replies "I've had
better!" and she throws him out of her office.
The next morning Fletcher get's up and soon realises that he is unable
to lie, which causes him much embarrassment in public where he blurts
out what he is really thinking. Fletcher as a result ends up offending
many of his office colleagues and he even get's his car impounded when
he is pulled over for speeding and reveals he has unpaid parking
tickets. And when Audrey comes to help out Fletcher by paying for his
car to be released from the impound she tells him that if he lies to Max
once more she will leave with Max and her new boyfriend Jerry (Cary
Elwes) and go to Boston, which she was considering doing. Fletcher begs
her not to go as he wants to talk things out which Audrey agrees to but
warns him if he doesn't show she will leave with Max that night, but
before she goes she tells him that Max made the wish. Fletcher then
goes to see Max at school and tries to persuade him to make a wish to
take the lie back but it doesn't work as Max doesn't really believe it
and that his dad makes him feel bad. Dejected Fletcher goes back to
this office and contemplates what he can do next.
Fletcher later on appears at court where he meets with his client
Samantha and her lover, Kenneth Faulk (Chip Mayer) both whom are willing
to commit perjury to hide their affair. Fletcher however realises he
cannot ask questions in court to which he knows the answer is a lie and
while he is in court desparately tries to postpone the hearing but
fails, despite his best attempts to do so by beating himself up in the
men's toilet. After administering his self beating, Fletcher is taken
back into court but the Judge asks him if he can continue and Fletcher
is forced to say yes leaving him no choice but to carry on. And its
from here Fletcher has to try and find a way to win the case without
telling a lie and also trying to do his best to patch up his fragile
relationship with Audrey and Max....
THOUGHTS
It has to be said that Liar Liar is easily one of Jim Carey's funniest
films and in a way it is something of breath of fresh air in his career
up to this point as Carey's previous films were all a bit too whacky and
zany. But here Carey is brought a bit more down to earth and put in a
relatively plausible story of a slightly crooked lawyer trying to
further his own career but at the same time he risks putting his
relationship with his own son at risk due to his irresponsbility and his
lying. And also somewhat incredibly the film actually manages to
somehow ground itself in reality quite well, despite Fletcher's
ridiculous over the top antics at times in the office or court and the
film's rather daft premise in general. But its the balance of the
antics, the silly premise and a bit of reality thrown in is what makes
the film appealing.
PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)
Which brings me onto the film's performances which are overall pretty good.
Starting with Jim Carrey who is great in his role as Fletcher and its very much his own star vehicle. Carrey also clearly has a ball with the concept of the film with Fletcher being forced on many occassions to tell the truth no matter how offensive or embarrassing it might sound. So naturally Carrey has quite a few highlights in the film.
So, I will mention a few starting off with the scene where he is in the lift with the pretty young woman with a rather nice big chest. And Fletcher asks her how she is getting on and when the woman says "Everyone has been so nice" Fletcher blurts out "That's because you have big jugs!" and the women looks aghast and he tries to correct himself but can't and continues "I mean your boobs are huge! I mean I wanna squeeze em!" and makes a noise like a baby and goes "Mama!" and she slaps him in the face.
Also there
is the scene where Fletcher has his car impounded and Audrey pays for
it to be released from the impound and Fletcher notices a scratch on the
car and accuses the motorpool attendant of making the scratch. And
Fletcher yells "You LIAR! You know what I'm gonna about this?!
Nothing! Because if I take it to small claims court, it will just drain 8
hours out of my life and you probably won't show up and even if I got
the judgment you'd just stiff me anyway; so what I am going to do is
piss and moan like an impotent jerk, and then bend over and take it up
the tailpipe!".
Then there is the scene where Fletcher desparately tries to make himself
say a simple lie by holding a blue pen and trying to so its red, but
instead he blurts out "The colour of pen I hold in my hand is
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroyal blue!!!". And as he tries to write the lie his
own writing hand attacks him and he ends up doodling the word all over
his face only to then have his assistant, Greta (Anne Haney) walk and he
says to her in dispair "The pen is blue! The pen is blue! THE GODDAMN
PEN IS BLUE!!".
Another funny moment is when Greta gives the phone
over to Fletcher to give a criminal client of his some legal advice and
Fletcher takes the phone and yells at the receiver "STOP BREAKING THE
LAW ASSHOLE!!!!!" and he proceeds to walk in a dejected manner into his office.
Then there is there scene where Fletcher is forced to tell the law firm's main partner, Mr Allen (Ryan Mitchell) what he thinks of him after Miranda overhears he can't lie. So Fletcher painfully says "He's a pedantic, pontificating, pretentious bastard, a belligerent old fart, a worthless steaming pile of cow dung, figuratively speaking" only to have it backfire on Miranda as Allen bursts out laughing and get's him to roast the other people in the boardroom.
Another funny scene from Carrey also comes when Fletcher in court waits for Samantha to arrive and the Judge asks if they are ready to begin and he yells out "No your honour! We are not ready to begin because my client is not yet arrived!" and she enters the courtroom seconds later and Fletcher sings out "HERE SHE COMES TO WRECK THE DAY!!!".
And later in the court scene
where Fletcher questions Samantha himself and he makes refers to her
vital statistics and a crude joke about the size of her big boobs and he
says "Weight 105???? Yeah! In your bra!". I will also have to mention
the scene where an awkward Fletcher walks out of the lift in his office
and we see a group of people hold their noses in the lift as he
obviously let one go and he turns around admits "IT WAS ME!!!" (which
just so happens to be the exact scene where this photo is from!).
Carrey also shares some nice moments in the film as Fletcher with his
son Max and it allows for him to utilise his playfulness with kids.
This can be seen in the film where Fletcher has Max visiting him in his
office and he tells Max he has a present for him but he sticks the
present in a large box underneath his t-shirt and he says "I
accidentally swallowed it! Let's hope its not digested! Scalpel!" and
he pretends to cut it out and it plops out from his t-shirt. Then there
is the scene where Fletcher meets with Max at school and he tells Max
his wish came true and Max asks him some questions one of which is "If I
keep making this face? (pulls a funny face) Will it end up that way?"
and Fletcher "Uh-uh, in fact some people make a good living that way!".
And last of all there is the moments wher Fletcher produces the claw
which he uses to tickle to his son and he says "NOTHING CAN STOP THE
CLAW!!!!".
As for the supporting they are also pretty good starting with Maura
Tierney as Fletcher's ex-wife who suffers him and his lies. Maura has
some nice moments in the film as well such as the scene where Audrey
argues with Fletcher about how his behaviour impacts on Max and Fletcher
tries to defend himself but ends up saying "I'm a bad father!" which
really hits him. And Audrey says "You're not a bad father, when you
show up". And also just as Audrey is about to drive off she says to
Fletcher "Do you know what your son was doing at 8:15 last night? He
was making a wish that for a whole day his father couldn't tell a lie".
Justin Cooper is also not too bad in his part as Max, Fletcher's young son who is continually let down by his father although I'm a bit perplexed as to why he has a haircut that harks back to the 1970s!
Cooper has some good scenes also that include the one where Fletcher tells Max his wish came true and he asks him to take it back but first Max asks some questions he wants truthful answers to. Max says "You mean you have to tell the truth? No matter what?" and Fletcher sighs "No matter what!" and Max asks "If it sit infront of the TV for hours, will I go blind?" and Fletcher says "Not in a million years!" and Max then asks "If I do this with my face and hold it, will it get stuck that way?" and he squishes his face and Fletcher "No, in fact some people make a good living that way!".
And last of all is the final scene of the film where (SPOILER!!!) Max makes another birthday wish and he blows out his candles with the lights off only to turn them on to find Fletcher kissing Audrey. So, Fletcher asks suspiciously after "Max...did you wish for your mum and me to get back together again???" and Max says "No, I wished for rollerblades!".
Anne Laney is also great in her part as Fletcher's assistant Greta, who
has a good scene where she asks Fletcher an awkward question when she
asks about a raise she didn't get from him and she says "So you said you
wanted to give me one out of your own pocket, but it
would create jealously among the other secretaries. Now, was that true,
or did you just not want to pony up the dough?!".
So, in the next scene
Greta clears her desk and as Fletcher begs her not to go she turns and
says "Mr. Reede, several years ago a friend of mine had a burglar on her
roof,
a burglar. He fell through the kitchen skylight, landed on a cutting
board, on a butcher's knife, cutting his leg. The burglar sued my
friend, he sued my friend. And because of guys like you HE WON! My
friend had to pay the burglar $6,000. Is that justice?!". And Fletcher
says "No." but as Greta looks pleased, he blurts out "I'd have gotten
him 10!". And Fletcher makes one last ditch attempt to keep her from
going by saying "I'll give you the raise!" and she gives him the finger
saying "here's your raise!".
Jennifer Tilly while she isn't the best actress in the world she does
actually do quite well in her role as the sleazy two-timing Samantha
Cole. And Jennifer has a couple of good scenes one where Fletcher
persuades Samanatha to go after her husband for his money and she says
to him "You're right Mr Reed! I am tired of being kicked around!".
And
later on in court Samantha arrives with her kids and Fletcher says "You
brought your own kids to your divorce hearing??" and Samantha cooly
says "Sympathy" and Fletcher snaps back "Its working. I'm feeling sorry
for them already!". And lastly during the court hearing, Fletcher
tries to tell Samantha he can't lie, she grabs him by his tie and yells
"I want my money! I am not going to end up a thirty-one year old
divorcée
on welfare because my scumbag attorney had a sudden attack of
conscience!".
Carey Elwes is also quite good in his role as the somewhat dorky Jerry,
Audrey's boyfriend whom tries to make an attempt at being a second dad
to Max and also makes a pretty feeble attempt at the "claw" to impress
Max. Amanda Donohoe is very good in her role as the conniving attorney,
Miranda who ends up sleeping with Fletcher and she asks him "That was
amazing. Was it as good for you as it was for me?" only for him to say
"I've had better!". And later on as Miranda tries to catch up with
Fletcher he sticks his fingers in his ears and runs away and she says
"You can run but you can't hide!".
And last of all Jason Bernard is great in his role as Judge Marshall
Stephens who sadly passed away not long after the film was completed.
Bernard has some good moments in the court scenes such as the moment
where he asks how they are all doing and Fletcher makes the rather
embarrassing revelation that he had "a bad sexual episode" and the Judge
matter of factly says "Well you're young it will happen more as you get
older!".
And the Judge during Fletcher's crazed defence says at one point "It is only out of sheer morbid curiosity that I am allowing this freak show to continue!". And lastly when Fletcher asks for a bathroom break the Judge asks crankily "Can't it wait?" and Fletcher says it can but if "you hold it in you could damage the prostate which could make it difficult to have an erection or even become aroused!" and the Judge says "Is that true?" and Fletcher says "It has to be!" and the Judge then says "Well in that case I better take a break myself!".
Last of all is the scene where Fletcher succeeds in winning his court cast with Mrs Cole only to feel wracked with guilt seeing the heartbreaking scene of Mrs Cole wrenching her children away from their downtrodden father. So, out of guilt, he tries to get the Judge to reverse the decision and says to him "We made a terrible mistake, I abused a legal technicality" and Summers angrily says "Young man, having someone come into my court and mock my judgment is NOT something I'm prepared to tolerate!!". Fletcher then angrily says to him "Oh then maybe you won't mind when they are adopted by the MANSON FAMILY!!" and Summers angrily shouts "One more word out of you, Mr Reede and I'll hold you in contempt!" and Fletcher finally yells "I HOLD MYSELF IN CONTEMPT!!! WHY SHOULD YOU BE ANY DIFFERENT!!". Summer then finally snaps and shouts "BAILIFF! TAKE HIM AWAY!".
DIRECTOR
Finally getting onto the director wise Tom Shadyac who does a fine job
here and he keeps the film going at a breezy pace and keeps it all
pretty light hearted even if the jokes are pretty crude at times and it
easily stands as one of his best efforts. Shadyac previously worked already with Carrey on Ace Ventura, Carrey's breakthrough movie.
Music wise the film features a somewhat schmaltzy but pleasant score by John Debney which is quite appropriate and keeping well in with the tone of the film during its quieter and more manic moments. Overall its a good score and well suited to the film.
FLAWS (Warning this section may contain spoilers!!)
So as for Liar Liar's flaws...... yes there are one or two.
To kick off it has to be said that Fletcher is a bit of an obnoxious a-hole and while he is forced at the hands of his son's birthday wish to blurt out the truth of what he thinks of everyone that truth often is pretty harsh and cynical sounding, which shows him up to be actually a bit mean spirited. This is especially notable in the scene where he roasts the staff at his law firm. And on this basis when you think about it and the humour aside, Fletcher is actually quite a hard character to root for although to be fair he does start to redeem himself as the film carries on.
I also thought the film was also a bit sexist and Shadyac is no stranger at times in potraying some of the women in his films as lying and deceitful and for the want of a better word, sluts, and this is certainly the case with both Samantha and Miranda here.
Lastly I also felt that Max was a bit of an annoying little twerp at times as he really does put some heavy burdening and guilt on his dad who despite his lying is actually a good father to him (well when he shows up). Also Max seems to really get his way with his wishes, which suggests he could be capable of wishing of anything he really wanted, but as such the film's premise is pretty silly anyway as why didn't he just wish he was a millionaire or something??? But hey it is only a film.
So, that's it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So, to sum up, Liar Liar is easily one of Jim Carrey's funniest films and features one of his best comedic performances where he nicely balances out some more dramatic aspects along with the comedy this time. Carrey even also has some heartfelt moments in the film with Fletcher and Max as well as his endearing work relationship with his assistant Greta. The film's supporting cast also do very well particularly Maura Tierney, Paul Bernard and Jennifer Tilly.
So, overall this is definitely one of Jim Carrey's best comedies and well worth a watch and I will rate Liar Liar:
9 out of 10
So, that's it for now and I will wish you all a Happy New Year and see you in 2025. :-)
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