"Trust Me"

Liar Liar (1997): 6/10

Poster (c) Universal Studios

Jim Carrey can be funny when he wants to be. Although he isn't the greatest comedian, he's sometimes quuite funny. His attempts at dramatic work aren't half bad, either. His prime of comedies came in the late 90's, with such movies like Liar Liar. In it, the script's written for him and he doesn't need to do any acting, just make faces at the camera. That has got to be the world's easiest job.

Carrey plays Fletcher Reede, a lawyer who is known for winning a case in any way possible. However, he rarely has time for his wife and son, so they break up. And any time that he is supposed to do something with his son, Fletcher never makes it and makes an excuse. So for his son's birthday, he wishes that his father would never tell a lie for one whole day. And lo and behold, it comes true. On the day of Fletcher's most important case, he can't tell a single lie, which causes distress in his job and more.

For the most part, Liar Liar is a good comedy. It's entertaining, it's humorous, and a plot that goes someplace. Although some of the subplots don't really go anyplace, or don't really work, like his wife's new relationship, it did open up another trademark Carrey "funny thing", like The Mask did with "Smokin'!" and Ace Ventura did with "All righty then!", and that is the whole thing about The Claw, which is pretty funny. Tom Shadyac seems to know how to direct Carrey and not to really have the camera off of him, which works well, since his constant mugging to the camera and his zany antics are basically what make up the movie.

On the downside of everything, though, there's one thing that takes away from the movie. That's the lack of laughter that was going through me. Although it's very entertaining, and something I would be able to watch again, I never really laughed much, I was just entertained throughout, which is all I asked for.

Rated PG-13 for sex related humor and language.

Review Date: March 4, 2004