Liar Liar


Liar Liar is a 1997 American fantasy comedy film starring Jim Carrey as a lawyer who built his entire career on lying only to find himself cursed to speak only the truth for a single day. He struggles to maintain his career and to reconcile with his ex-wife and son whom he alienated with his pathological lying. The film was directed by Tom Shadyac, and is the second of three collaborations between Carrey and Shadyac, the first being Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
Liar Liar was released in the United States on March 18, 1997 by Universal Pictures. The film received positive reviews from critics, and grossed $303 million against a budget of $45 million. At the 55th Golden Globe Awards, Carrey was nominated for Best Actor.

Plot

Fletcher Reede is a divorced defense lawyer living in Los Angeles who loves spending time with his young son, Max. However, he has a habit of giving inappropriate precedence to his career, breaking promises to Max and his ex-wife Audrey, and then lying about the reasons. After Fletcher misses Max's birthday party when senior partner Miranda lures him into having sex in the office to land a promotion, Max makes a birthday wish for Fletcher to be honest for one day.
Fletcher soon discovers that he is unable to lie, mislead, or withhold the truth. This alienates him from Miranda and his secretary Greta, gets his car impounded when he confesses all of his traffic infractions and unpaid parking tickets to a police officer, and causes him an inability to bend the truth in court.
Fletcher's newest client is Samantha Cole, a gold digger who wants to get around a pre-nup with her soon-to-be ex-husband, Richard Cole. The main witness, Kenneth Falk, with whom Samantha has been cheating, is eager to lie when he takes the stand. However, Fletcher finds in court that his inability to lie includes not being able to suborn perjury. Meanwhile, Audrey is considering a move to Boston with Jerry, who proposed upon receiving a job offer there. Although they have not been together long, she accepts, to protect Max from future disappointments that Fletcher may cause him. Catching wind of Fletcher's inability to lie, Miranda tries to get him fired by baiting him into insulting Mr. Allan, a senior partner at the firm, but this backfires when Mr. Allan and his board mistake Fletcher's accurate insults for lighthearted roasting.
Fletcher tries to delay the case by staging an assault on himself in the men's room, but he's unable to lie his way into a continuance, specifically because his only possible grounds were, "I can't lie." Knowing that he cannot refute the proof of Samantha's adultery, her grousing accidentally reveals her real age. He successfully disputes the validity of her prenup, signed as a minor without parental consent. The judge rules Samantha is entitled to 50% of Richard's marital assets, allowing Fletcher to win the case truthfully. However, Samantha then pivots to demanding custody of their children for extra child support payments. Fletcher watches as she pulls her crying children out of Richard's arms. Horrified by the outcome his actions have caused, he overreacts and demands the decision be reversed. The judge thinks Fletcher is mocking him and holds him in contempt.
Fletcher calls Audrey to bail him out, but she informs him that their plane leaves for Boston that night. Greta, realizing he turned over a new leaf, pays his bail. Fletcher rushes to the airport, but Audrey and Max's plane has left the gate. In desperation, he hijacks a mobile stairway to pursue the plane onto the runway. He keeps his promise to greet Max before takeoff, through a plane window, and gets the plane to stop but is injured. On a stretcher, Fletcher vows to Max that he will spend more time with him. He says that despite the fact that he is free to lie now that the 24 hours have elapsed, it feels more clear to be honest. Max believes him, and Audrey, encouraged by Jerry, decides to remain in California.
One year later, Fletcher and Audrey are celebrating Max's birthday. Max makes a birthday wish, only to find that Fletcher and Audrey are kissing when the lights come back on. Fletcher asks Max if he wished for them to get back together, but he says he only wished for rollerblades. The family returns to normal as Fletcher chases Audrey and Max around the house with "the Claw", a psych game that Fletcher often plays with Max.

Cast

In addition to portraying Fletcher Reede, Carrey has a cameo appearance as Fire Marshall Bill at the end of the film, seeing to Reede's injuries after he crashes a mobile stairway, reprising his role from In Living Color. Liar Liar was the film debut of actress Sara Paxton, who played one of Max's classmates who attends his birthday party. It was also the last film to feature Don Keefer, who retired in 1997 before he died in 2014, and Jason Bernard, who died shortly after filming was completed. The film was dedicated in Bernard's memory.

Production

The film was shot from July 8 to October 16, 1996, in Los Angeles.
In an interview, Jim Carrey said filming the film was very physically demanding on him, "because it was this constant suppression of angst, completely freaking out all the time. I would go home with total exhaustion". The script was rejected by numerous Hollywood studios until it was picked up by Brian Grazer and Imagine Entertainment. The role of Fletcher Reede was envisioned for Tom Hanks and Steve Martin. Hugh Grant was interested in the role, but backed out due to the Divine Brown scandal. Cary Elwes got cast as Jerry for "pure chance" and having previously worked with director Tom Shadyac.

Reception

Box office

The film is the second of three collaborations between Jim Carrey and Tom Shadyac, all of which did extremely well at the box office: the opening weekend made $31,423,025 in 2,845 theaters. It was the second-highest, three-day opener ever for Universal Pictures, only coming second to Jurassic Park. The film also surpassed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to have the largest March opening weekend. It would hold this record for five years until it was taken by Ice Age in 2002. At the time, Liar Liar had the second-highest opening weekend for an Imagine Entertainment film, behind Ransom. The film was ranked number one during its first weekend, beating both the Special Edition release of Return of the Jedi and Selena. It stayed at the top of the box office for a total of three weeks before being overtaken by Anaconda. By late April 1997, Liar Liar had already surpassed the Special Edition release of Star Wars to become the top-grossing film of the year. In North America, it made $181,410,615, and at the box office in other territories it made $121,300,000 for a total of $302,710,615.
In Denmark, Liar Liar earned $453,000 in its opening weekend, making it the third-highest opening for any Universal film in the country, after Twister and Jurassic Park.

Critical response

The film received positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a rating of 83%, based on 63 reviews, with an average rating of 6.90/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Despite its thin plot, Liar Liar is elevated by Jim Carrey's exuberant brand of physical humor, and the result is a laugh riot that helped to broaden the comedian's appeal." On Metacritic, it has a score of 70 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it an "A−" grade from an A+ to F scale.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars and stated, "I am gradually developing a suspicion, or perhaps it is a fear, that Jim Carrey is growing on me," as he had given negative reviews to his previous films Dumb and Dumber and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
Some critics noted similarities between the plot with that of an episode of The Twilight Zone entitled "The Whole Truth" where a used-car salesman comes into ownership of a car that is haunted and forces him to tell the truth so long as he owns it. In particular, one scene that bears a resemblance to an element used in Liar Liar is the part where the salesman's assistant asks for a raise, and he is compelled to come clean that there is no raise.

Accolades

AwardDate of ceremonyCategoryRecipientResult
ASCAP Film and Television Music AwardsApril 28, 1998Top Box Office FilmsJohn DebneyWon
Golden Globe AwardsJanuary 18, 1998Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or ComedyJim CarreyNomitated
MTV Movie & TV AwardsMay 30, 1998Best Comedic PerformanceJim Carrey
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice AwardsApril 4, 1998Favorite MovieLiar LiarNomitated
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice AwardsApril 4, 1998Favorite Movie ActorJim CarreyNomitated
People's Choice AwardsJanuary 11, 1998Favorite Comedy Motion PictureLiar Liar
Young Artist AwardMarch 14, 1998Best Performance in a Feature Film: Young Actor Age Ten or UnderJustin CooperNomitated

American Film Institute recognition:
  • AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs – Nominated