Liar Liar marks Jim Carrey’s return from his “darker” role in last summer’s disappointing The Cable Guy, which turned off many Carrey fans and did little to attract new ones. Liar Liar presents us with the lighter, less psychotic, but in no way less manic, Carrey.
The story is centered around Fletcher Reede (Carrey), a lawyer who’s been making a big splash at his firm. He’s garnered so much attention, he’s being considered as a partner. His success has come at the expense of his family life. He’s been divorced from Audrey (Maura Tierney) as a result of his sleeping around, but he’s also losing touch with his son, Max (Justin Cooper). He’s constantly breaking promises to Max to devote more time to his increasing workload. After Fletcher misses his son’s party, Max makes a wish that his dad cannot tell a lie for one full day.
The wish comes true at a particularly bad time — Fletcher has just had sex with the woman who can secure his future as partner in the law firm. In a situation that would call for his sleaziest line, Fletcher says, “I’ve had better.” From then on, the movie is in high gear as Fletcher struggles to get through a complete day without being able to tell even the smallest fib. For an any normal adult, that would be fairly difficult. For a lawyer that brags that he could get a burglar a $10,000 settlement for being injured while robbing a house, making it through a day without lying is nearly impossible.
Carrey’s facial contortions and expressions are taken to the limit in this film. Watching him in action is really something to behold, especially in a sequence that takes place in a men’s room at the courthouse. When he’s on, he’s a man possessed to do anything to get a laugh. A cheap laugh, usually, but a laugh nonetheless.
The rest of the cast, as in the case in most of Carrey’s films, simply show up, say their lines and stand back and watch Carrey go at his material with intensity of a rabid animal. Cary Elwes is sort of the anti-Carrey as Jerry, Audrey’s “semi-serious” boyfriend. He looks completely dorky as he tries to convince Audrey and Max to move with him to Boston. His attempt to do “the claw,” a bit that Fletcher does with Max is hilariously devoid of Carrey’s manic energy.
This is Carrey’s best movie, but that doesn’t make it a great film. His movies have little to make you want to see them again, because the laughs simply come from the surprise of him doing something completely unusual. The story isn’t particularly strong or interesting. The idea behind the story is wonderful, but is used here to simply get Carrey’s character into jams and then gets him out of them with a really sappy ending. I’d rather have seen the movie explore the idea of not being able to lie and dispensing with the romantic drivel that weighs Liar Liar down.
Still, if you’re a Jim Carrey fan, you’re probably not looking for anything other than a good time and Liar Liar does deliver that.
3.0 out of 5.0 stars
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