Liar Liar (1997)

A fast track lawyer can't lie for 24 hours due to his son's birthday wish after the lawyer turns his son down for the last time.

Director:

Tom Shadyac

Writers:

Paul Guay, Stephen Mazur

Stars:

Jim Carrey, Maura Tierney, Justin Cooper

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 4 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jim Carrey	...	Fletcher Reede
Maura Tierney	...	Audrey Reede
Justin Cooper	...	Max Reede
Cary Elwes	...	Jerry
Anne Haney	...	Greta
Jennifer Tilly	...	Samantha Cole
Amanda Donohoe	...	Miranda
Jason Bernard	...	Judge Marshall Stevens
Swoosie Kurtz	...	Dana Appleton
Mitch Ryan	...	Mr. Allan (as Mitchell Ryan)
Christopher Mayer	...	Kenneth Falk (as Chip Mayer)
Eric Pierpoint	...	Richard Cole
Randall 'Tex' Cobb	...	Skull
Cheri Oteri	...	Jane
SW Fisher	...	Pete

Storyline

Fletcher Reede, a fast talking attorney, habitual liar, and divorced father is an incredibly successful lawyer who has built his career by lying. He has a habit of giving precedence to his job and always breaking promises to be with his favorite young son Max, but Fletcher lets Max down once too often, for missing his own son's birthday party. But until then at 8:15 Max has decided to make an honest man out of him as he wishes for one whole day his dad couldn't tell a lie. When the wish comes true all Fletcher can do is tell the truth and cannot tell one lie. Uh-oh for Fletcher!

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Plot Keywords:

wish | lie | lying | birthday | lawyer | 

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Taglines:

Trust Me

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Genres:

Comedy | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sex related humor and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 March 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Menteur menteur

Filming Locations:

1004 Highland Street, South Pasadena, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$45,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

ITL 3,379,561,000 (Italy) (2 May 1997)

Gross:

$181,395,380 (USA) (10 October 1997)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

DTS-Stereo DTS Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Max's teacher is reading to her class a story from Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham". Jim Carrey has played the Grinch in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Horton in Horton Hears a Who!, both Dr. Seuss stories.

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Goofs

When Audrey is about to put candles on Max's Birthday cake, she takes the candles out of the box and puts them on the counter. In the next shot they're in the cake.

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Quotes

Max Reede: If I keep making this face... will it get stuck that way?
Fletcher: Uh uh. As a matter of fact, some people make a very good living that way.

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Crazy Credits

Outtakes are shown during the credits.

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Connections

Version of Et døgn uden løgn (1963)

User Reviews

Jim Carrey is back in yet another great comedy, although it doesn't quite live up to the spectacular Dumb & Dumber.

Liar Liar is about a boy who, after being stood up by his big-shot lawyer father one too many times, wishes that for just one day his dad couldn't lie. This wreaks havoc on his personal life and even more on his professional life as a lawyer who makes a living putting criminals back on the streets.

Carrey is immediately and constantly hilarious in his role as the unwillfully honest Fletcher Reede. Every scene is full of awkwardly straightforward behavior and dialogue ("Whatever takes the focus off your head!) that is funny because it is so unusual and unexpected. Maura Tierney delivers one of the best performances of her career (second only to her wonderful job in Primal Fear), but Cary Elwes plays a disappointing turn from his amazing job in The Princess Bride. Seeing him as the endlessly charming Wesley in that film and then seeing him as a squirrely step-father type in Liar Liar just didn't seem to fit, but the film was able to overcome such small problems and present itself as a good and entertaining comedy.

In addition to the good comedy that Liar Liar presented, there were strange comedic scenes that Carrey had never done before. For example, I have never seen him portray a descent into madness as was shown with the blue pen, and it should be noted how well this funny man played the part of a man trying very hard not to be funny, with hilarious results. This is a bit like his role in Man on the Moon where he was a comedian playing a comedian who was often deliberately not funny, and the results there were hilarious as well. Jim Carrey's great comedy acting skills were a crucial element of this film, but they are not the only redeeming value of the movie itself. The story is solid and legitimate as well, and it is well-presented and directed, resulting in a good, fun comedy.