Big Fat Liar
***
Cinema Releases - June 28, 2002
Rated on a 4-star scale. Certificate PG. USA.
87 minutes. Directed by Shawn Levy. Written by Dan Schneider; from a story
by Brian Robbins, Dan Schneider. Starring Frankie Muniz, Paul Giamatti, Amanda
Bynes, Amanda Detmer, Donald Adeosun Faison, Sandra Oh, Michael Bryan
French.
The kid in "Big Fat Liar" is sort
of like a fourteen-year old Ferris Bueller. His name is Jason Shepherd, and
he is a master at spinning webs of fibbing to amuse himself and outsmarting
adults to have an easier time. He's one of those movie characters who are
too smart to take anything seriously except for the pursuit of
lightheartedness.
Jason is played by Frankie Muniz, and he uses
his expertise on bending the truth to write a short story for English class
called (of course) 'Big Fat Liar'. Chance and coincidence let this story
go missing and fall into the hands of a scumbag movie producer (Paul Giamatti),
who claims the material to be his own and decides to use it as the basis
for a high-profile project that should re-boost his career.
Muniz is not happy. He cries foul, but nobody
listens; they think he's pulling another fast one. So to gain his father's
trust -- and, more importantly, get out of summer school -- Muniz and his
girlfriend (Amanda Bynes) decide to sneak a trip to Los Angeles and beat
Giamatti at his own game.
"Big Fat Liar" is a good combination of the
boy-who-cried-wolf theme and the comic revenge movie, in which the scoundrel
gets his comeuppance and we can't help but cackle. There are scams. They
involve phoney phonecalls, fast talking, blagging and acting cute. There
are pranks. They include dying Giamatti's skin blue, tripping people up,
setting up misunderstandings and leading people into traps. I won't go into
too much detail; watching the specifics of these set-ups unfold is a major
part of the fun.
Giamatti is one helluva villain, sneering insensitive
and boorish put-downs through a canine growl and cartoonish eyebrows. The
kids also act with intelligence and energy: Muniz is relentless and shameless
in his scamming and animated smooth talking, and yet he keeps up a certain
sharp likeability. Bynes plays a character cool enough to go along with her
buddy's sense of humour and yet mature enough to keep him from going too
far. For an example of how perfect she is, look at the scene in which she
gets on the phone and imitates the rambling of a Valley Girl secretary; it's
nuanced, detailed, sustained and perfectly timed -- a broad gag played with
as much grounding, specificity and intelligence as possible.
The movie maybe goes a little too far in its slapstick
asides. In the spirit of most movies that sympathise with mischievous kids,
the adults are seen in a pretty broad and doofy light, and we get unnecessary
shots such as that of Giamatti's secretary hyperactively playing with toy
animals and talking to herself without thought. One other small quibble involves
the final scene: I'm not sure how the hero captures the villain's final
confession, even with twelve 35mm cameras, when he's not recording any
sound.
Still, "Big Fat Liar" works. It's crafty, energetic
and smart. And the shots involving the kids' Los Angeles sleeping arrangements
will play like wish-fulfilment for most movie lovers: They stay in a warehouse
in the Universal Studios backlot, sleeping on the "Back to the Future" DeLorean,
playing with "E.T." dolls, making exits via the Bates Motel. Too
cool.
COPYRIGHT©
2002 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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