Liar Liar (1997)

Starring: Jim Carrey, Maura Tierney, Carey Elwes, Justin Cooper, Jennifer Tilly, Cheri Oteri, and Randall “Tex” Cobb
Grade: Classic

If you want to become a comedic actor, and you’re trying to figure out a way to get absolutely everything out of your performance, Liar Liar is a movie you should watch on repeat. It needs to be shown in acting classes across the country. Physical comedy is one thing, but Carrey is AMAZING and arguably turns this into one of his best performances ever.

Summary

The young Max (Cooper) is asked what his parents do at school in a sort of “career day” type of activity in front of the class. His mother Audrey (Tierney) is a teacher, but he describes his father Fletcher (Carrey) as a “liar”. After describing what he does, the teacher corrects Max and says Fletcher is a lawyer, but Max just shrugs his shoulders. At this point, there’s no difference.

We then jump to the courthouse where we see Fletcher after winning another case. A co-worker interrupts him, but he insists he’s going to see his son. However, after she says some reporters want to interview him, he has no problem going over to them first. This makes him late to see Max, and his ex-wife Audrey is not happy when he finally shows up. Even then, he immediately makes things right with Max just by being there. Just then, Audrey’s boyfriend Jerry (Elwes) shows up. He’s moving to Boston soon for his job, but he’s been dating Audrey for seven months and things seems to be good. Jerry is a nice guy and has a great relationship with Max too. This irks Fletcher, especially when Audrey doesn’t seem happy when he says he’ll still be here once Jerry leaves. Fletcher takes Max for the day, and they plan on going to a professional wrestling event.

Apparently, the main event is Rick Rude vs. “Macho Man” Randy Savage in a Steel Cage Match.

Not bad Fletcher…

Before they can attend the event though, he has to stop by the office. Inside, a lawyer turns down Miranda’s (Amanda Donohoe) invite to take Samantha Cole’s (Tilly) case to trial because it would require a lot of lying. This inspires her to get Fletcher on it because he has no problem with this sort of thing. We see this exemplified as Fletcher interacts with his co-workers in the building as he walks Max to his office. They talk with his secretary Greta (Anne Haney) where Max talks about how it’s his birthday tomorrow. Once Fletcher has Max wait in his office, he realizes he forgot about Max’s birthday. Thankfully, Greta remembered and bought a gift and wrapped it for him, as well as a gift for herself. After telling Fletcher about his other messages and he comes up with a lie for each one to tell them, Greta tells him that Miranda wants to talk. He wants to make partner badly, and he’s very close to it due to his consistent success. Miranda shows up as they’re talking, so Fletcher grabs the gift Greta bought for herself and gives it to her. She talks about how good he’s been doing and offers him the Samantha Cole case. He immediately takes it, knowing he has to be perfect to make partner. Sadly, Max realizes that with Fletcher taking this case and looking at files right after, he knows they aren’t going out anymore.

Elsewhere, Jerry and Audrey are at a restaurant, and Jerry suddenly proposes. Despite him moving to Boston, he wants Audrey and Max to come with him. She doesn’t say “yes”, but she doesn’t say “no” either. It’s more of a potential work in progress.

The next morning, we see Fletcher working tirelessly in the office, and Max comes to greet him. They open Max’s present (the one Greta bought on behalf of Fletcher), and it’s a baseball mitt and hat. Max loves it but is let down again because Fletcher says he’ll play with him after his birthday party that night. Soon after, Audrey and Jerry come to the office to pick up Max. Before they leave, Audrey tells Fletcher they need to talk at the party, presumably to talk about Jerry’s proposal. Back in the office, Fletcher talks with Samantha Cole and Miranda. Samantha is a horrible person and admits to cheating on her ex-husband seven times. She also sees that most of Fletcher’s case is a lie, but she wants half of the man’s fortune, and Fletcher plans on getting it for her. He even inspires Samantha with a bullshit speech about how she’s fighting for all women with this case. She agrees to have him as her attorney and after she leaves, Miranda tells Fletcher if he wins this case for their firm, she can guarantee he’ll make partner. She then starts making out with him right then and there. He’s not really into it, but he goes along with it given how high up on the food chain she is. At Max’s birthday party, Audrey admits to Jerry she can’t go with him to Boston because Max would never see Fletcher. The two have too close of a bond, and she would hate to take that away from Max. They are interrupted by Fletcher’s phone call to tell Audrey that something came up at work, and he has to miss the birthday party. In reality, he’s having sex with Miranda.

When it’s time to make a wish and blow out the candles, Max wishes to himself that for one day, Fletcher can’t lie.

Immediately after, the wish comes true.

After Fletcher and Miranda have sex, she asks how it was for him, and he hits her with the classic line, “I’ve had better”. He’s kicked out while still in shock over the fact he blurted this out. Following this, we get the hilarious scene in the elevator where he straight up tells a new tenant she’s got big tits. Following a few more incidences, he makes it to the courthouse and is now in a panic. Judge Marshall Stevens (Jason Bernard) resides, and Fletcher immediately asks for a continuance because he can’t lie. Since he doesn’t have a good enough reason past this, the motion is denied. There’s also no chance in settling for the $2.4 million Richard Cole (Eric Pierpoint) already offered Samantha either. Fletcher tries to get Samantha to go for it at the last second, but she is now fully convinced (because of him) that she’s the victim and is entitled to more. The trial is set for later in the day, with Fletcher running to his office now in full freak-out mode. Back in his office, he tells Audrey over the phone that he won’t be able to pick up Max after school like he promised. At the same time, he admits he couldn’t come to the birthday party because he was having sex with Miranda to advance his career. He then throws his phone in frustration because he can’t believe he’s revealing this information. Afterwards, Audrey drops Max off and tells him the news. This is where Max tells Audrey what his wish was and how it didn’t come true because Fletcher still can’t come to pick him up.

Fletcher calls Audrey again, and she tells him about how she’s moving to Boston with Jerry, especially after Fletcher’s recent actions have inspired her to swing in this direction. Wanting to talk her out of it, Fletcher drives over to see her. On the way there though, his car gets impounded after getting pulled over by a cop, admitting to every traffic violation he pulled on the way there, and showing him all of his unpaid parking tickets. This forces him to call Audrey once more to help him get his car, and she does. On the way out of the lot, he admits he’s a bad father and has a moment once he hears himself say it. He asks for one more chance to talk with her and see Max later that night. If he doesn’t show up, he’ll allow her to go with Jerry to Boston with Max. She agrees to give him one more shot. On a parting note, she reminds Fletcher about how she doesn’t want to see Max be disappointed again, telling him that Max’s birthday wish was for him to not lie. It finally hits Fletcher. He goes straight to Max at his school, sets up a cake for him, and tries to explain to him why adults need to lie. He then sets up the candle for Max to un-wish everything. He does so but since he doesn’t mean it and feels bad when Fletcher does lie, it doesn’t come true.

Fletcher has no idea what to do. He can’t lie, so it’s nearly impossible to win this career-advancing case. On top of that, he realizes he’s a bad father and only has today to figure out how to become a good one. Today may be the biggest day of Fletcher’s life. What happens before 8:15PM can change everything.

My Thoughts:

A lawyer who can’t lie? What a pitch!

Every so often, a comedic actor/comedian snatches a role suited to their style so well, we find ourselves saying, “Wow, no one could’ve done this movie better than him”. I’m talking about roles like Chevy Chase in Fletch, Steve Martin in The Jerk, Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop, Will Ferrell in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Ben Stiller in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, etc.

Jim Carrey, being the generational talent he is, was fortunate enough to get five: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Liar Liar. In Liar Liar, Carrey is able to continue his reputation as a human cartoon character, giving us one of the most impressive physical comedy performances of the modern era, second only to The Mask. Carrey practically loses his ever-loving mind playing Fletcher Reede, the lawyer who can’t lie. You have to love the passion. Jim Carrey tears himself apart for our entertainment. At one point, he even kicks his own ass. Carrey’s dedication as a physical comedian is unparalleled. It’s just a reminder of the insane lengths he used to go to, using every ounce of energy he had, to create an all-time comic performance. To a novice viewer, you may pass it off as overacting, but when you say this, it sounds negative. I wouldn’t call it overacting because I think the script calls for this level of zaniness to make the movie reach another tier. Lying is this character’s life. This is everything to him. The way Carrey plays it may look over-the-top, but I assure you it’s absolutely necessary. Just take a look at this scene for instance. The premise of it is simple, he’s testing his incapability of lying by just saying that the pen is red, even though it’s blue. This should show you all you need to know about how good Carrey really is and how absolutely fucking bonkers Liar Liar is.

He’s not an over-actor. He’s just that damn entertaining. This is talent. This is acting. This is leaving it all out there for your craft.

Along with the physical stuff, he’s still very funny in other ways, especially with his sarcastic quips to Audrey, Jerry, and everyone else he interacts with (“Jerry, enjoy my wife!”).

Even with all of this, we also see the blossoming of Carrey as an emotional actor too. He’s dealing with an awkward divorce that, based off what we see, was more than likely his fault. He does have a good relationship with his son though. When we see him play with his son by bringing out “The Claw”, you can see the family man he has the potential to be and how much Max loves him. This is why it’s so disheartening to see him disappoint Max so often because it’s obvious his work is a higher priority to him than his family. Fletcher is a workaholic, and he’s very successful because of it. However, when you have a family, your priorities change. They have to. Unfortunately, he never got the memo. Despite how problematic this wish becomes for Fletcher, we know he needs it. Even though we like our protagonist, we don’t want it to be undone because we know he needs to change to save his family as well as himself. He needs the slap in the face. Did you see his expression once he blurts out that he’s a bad father? He instinctively says it. He knows it’s true and when he does, this is when the wheels are set into motion. This is Fletcher’s redemption. Yes, the heart of this narrative is something we’ve seen countless times, but that doesn’t make it any less realistic or entertaining.

It’s impressive how much entertainment value is crammed into such a short running time. Minus Max’s awful haircut, Liar Liar is fantastic. It’s pure hilarity with a huge heart, and Jim Carrey is at his best once again.

Even the bloopers are a joy to watch.

Fun Fact: The main character was originally a real estate agent that lies about houses and was intended as a starring vehicle for Steve Martin. After a rewrite by Judd Apatow, the new plot was about a lawyer and Carrey, Mike Myers, and Eddie Murphy were considered. Myers turned it down to do Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, while Carrey turned down the role of Dr. Evil to be in this movie.