‘Liar Liar’ at 25 – Review | The Film Magazine (thefilmagazine.com)
Liar Liar (1997) was Jim Carrey's first original comedy outing since his incredible 1994 when he burst onto the screens with three mainstream classic films at once to display his zany, off the wall comedic stylings. From the sketch comedy of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective to the comic book insanity of The Mask to the unlikely hit Dumb and Dumber, each film showed off a feather in Carrey's bow showing he could carry a film on his own as the pet detective to working with special effects and as a double-act opposite Jeff Daniels.
Liar Liar was more of a by the numbers comedy, a film based upon a simple premise in the same vein of a Jerry Lewis film - a lawyer who struggles to connect with his son forcing him to miss his boy's birthday must not tell a lie for a period of 24 hours owing to the son's birthday wish, it just so happens to be the big day of his biggest case, and the threat of his ex-wife taking his son away from him with her new boyfriend. As the trailer showed the son, 'My Dad is a Liar', the teacher responds 'No you mean a lawyer' to which Max just shrugs, indicating is there really a difference.
The film's poster was built around Carrey as Fletcher Reede, he being front and centre in front of the film's title and the trailer showed off many a chuckle, yet the film is a consistently funny film as Carrey's character navigates the obstacles and struggles of this 24 hour period where his truth will see you free.
The film has a neat two day trajectory of narrative, the day before he has to stop lying and the day when he cannot lie, the economical structure allows for convenient growth of characters but also allows two sides to a character to appear from one day to the next.
Liar Liar taps into the everyman appeal of Carrey that he mined so effectively in The Mask as Stanley Ipkiss, that loveable down on his luck guy who catches a break and we find another side to him when he dons the eponymous face mask. As the lawyer who deceives and bends the truth to his will, Carrey taps into the complexities of the lawyer in mainstream society yet comments that every lawyer may have a family, Fletcher learns that he really loves his son and desperately does not want to lose him in his life.
The supporting cast is a trove of mid-90s comedy favourites, from Jason Bernard as Judge Stevens who appeared in While You Were Sleeping, Jennifer Tilly as his client who will stop at nothing to gain financial dispensation for the dissolvement of her marriage, Amanda Donohue whwho had a long career in Hollywood playing the sexual nymph on many occasions yet you also see Maura Tierney as his ex-wife who wishes he could be better and is now partnered with Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride, Men in Tights) who while a dab comedic hand himself plays the role very straight.
Carrey is a ball of energy that comes to the fore when he has to interact with people once he has to tell the truth - from his assistant with the awful haircut to haranguing a room full of brown nosers where his truthful depictions of people is encouraged. It culminates in the court scene when he moves to strike himself from his own disposition and yet convincingly wins the case despite knowing he cannot and should not, ironically a lie from his client proves to be his way to winning of the case.
The film became somewhat of a return to form for Carrey following the disappointment of Ben Stiller's The Cable Guy (1996) where he was paid $20m for a film that did not meet expectations, the dark slant of the text not hitting for audiences. Liar Liar promised a more return to form with Carrey front and centre with different dance partners on a thin premise allowing his zany performance to come to the fore, as shown by the outtakes at the conclusion of the film, Carrey was given free rein to improvise where possilbe.
The film did very good business again for the man who was slowly becoming the most bankable star in Hollywood and proved a box office hit making $181m in the United States and it is down to Carrey who elevates mundane material. Carrey was again cemented along with Tom Hanks and Will Smith as the most bankable star in Hollywood, that marquee name that could open a film alone no matter the subject matter of the film.
Fletcher Reede is one of Carrey's great comedy performances, full of controlled comedic chaos from beating himself up in a bathroom and fighting a blue pen he wishes to be red. The next performance he made was Truman Burbank in Peter Weir's The Truman Show, Carrey's attempt for legitimacy playing a man unknowingly moulded and manipulated by a larger corporation. That film would mark a sea change for Carrey in his attempts for Oscar glory returning to such roles in Man on the Moon and sadly returning to out and out comedies such as Bruce Almighty (2003) and Yes Man (2008) all too infrequently.
Where it sits in Carrey's oeuvre - much like Bruce Almighty?
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