Liar Liar

Liar Liar is a 1997 American satirical fantasy comedy film directed by Tom Shadyac and written by Paul Guay and Stephen Mazur. It stars Jim Carrey as a lawyer who built his entire career on lying but finds himself cursed to speak only the truth for a single day, during which he struggles to maintain his career and to reconcile with his ex-wife and son whom he alienated with his pathological lying.

For other uses, see Liar Liar (disambiguation).

Liar Liar
The words "TRUST ME" and a man in a suit with his arms open wide
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTom Shadyac
Written by
  • Paul Guay
  • Stephen Mazur
Produced byBrian Grazer
Starring
CinematographyRussell Boyd
Edited byDon Zimmerman
Music byJohn Debney
James Newton Howard (theme)
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release dates
  • March 18, 1997 (1997-03-18) (Hollywood)
  • March 21, 1997 (1997-03-21) (United States)
Running time
86 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$45 million[2]
Box office$302.7 million[1]

The film is the second of three collaborations between Carrey and Shadyac—the first being Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and the third being Bruce Almighty—the second of three collaborations between Guay and Mazur—the others being The Little Rascals and Heartbreakers—and the first of three collaborations between Carrey and producer Brian Grazer, the other two being How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) and Fun with Dick and Jane (2005).

The film was released to critical and commercial success, grossing $302.7 million against a budget of $45 million and earning positive reviews from critics and audiences, who particularly praised Carrey's performance. At the 55th Golden Globe Awards, he was nominated for Best Actor in a Comedy.

Plot

Fletcher Reede is a lawyer and divorcé living in Los Angeles, who loves spending time with his young son, Max. However, Fletcher also has a habit of giving precedence to his career, breaking promises to Max and his ex-wife, Audrey, and then lying about the reasons, which has made him a successful defense lawyer at his firm. After Fletcher misses Max's birthday party when senior partner Miranda lures him to get promoted by having sex in the office, Max makes a birthday wish for Fletcher to be unable to lie for a single day.

Fletcher soon discovers, through a series of embarrassing incidents, that he is unable to lie, mislead, or withhold the truth, to the point that his body physically resists the effort to write a false statement. These incidents alienate Fletcher from both Miranda and his secretary Greta, gets his car impounded when he confesses all of his traffic infractions and unpaid tickets to a policeman, and cause him an inability to bend the truth in court.

Fletcher's newest client is Samantha Cole, a gold digger who wants a net sum from her soon-to-be ex-husband, Richard Cole. The main witness, Kenneth Falk, with whom Samantha has been cheating, is eager to lie in court to win, but Fletcher cannot suborn perjury. Meanwhile, Audrey is planning to move to Boston with her fiancé, Jerry, and decides to take Max with them to protect him from any future disappointments that Fletcher may cause him.

Fletcher tries desperately to delay the case, even beating himself up in the bathroom, but is unable to lie his way into a continuance. Knowing that he cannot deny the proof of Samantha's adultery, he successfully disputes the validity of her prenuptial agreement after discovering that she signed it as a minor without parental consent. This entitles Samantha to 50% of Richard's marital assets, allowing Fletcher to win the case truthfully. However, Samantha also insists on contesting custody of their children for an extra $10,000 in monthly child support payments. A disheartened Fletcher, realizing that he corrupted Samantha with his lies, watches as she pulls her crying children out of Richard's arms. Horrified, Fletcher demands that the decision be reversed, but his attitude angers the judge and he is arrested for contempt of court. Fletcher calls Audrey to bail him out, but she informs him that their plane leaves for Boston that night. Greta learns of this and, having realized that Fletcher turned over a new leaf, pays his bail.

Recognizing Max as his highest priority, Fletcher rushes to the airport, but Audrey and Max's plane has already left the gate. In desperation, he hijacks a mobile stairway to pursue the plane onto the runway. After throwing one of his shoes at the plane's windshield, the pilots bring the plane to a stop, but Fletcher is injured after he crashes the mobile stairway and gets thrown off. On a stretcher, Fletcher vows to Max that he will spend more time with him. He says that despite the fact he is free to lie now that the 24 hours have elapsed, it feels better 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 Max says he only wished for rollerblades. The family returns to normal as Fletcher chases Audrey and Max around the house with "the Claw", a game that Fletcher often plays with his son.

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.[3] 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.[4]

Production

The original script treatment, written by Paul Guay and Stephen Mazur in 1994, revolved around a scummy real estate agent who lies to clients about houses, and it was written to be a potential vehicle for Steve Martin. It was later rewritten by an uncredited Judd Apatow to involve a lawyer, meant for a younger actor "no older than 35", such as Jim Carrey, Mike Myers, or Eddie Murphy.[5][6] Myers turned it down to instead do Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, while Carrey turned down the role of Dr. Evil in that film to instead do Liar Liar, on the condition that frequent collaborator and friend Tom Shadyac could direct.[7] Meanwhile, Twister actor Cary Elwes was cast "by chance" when he ran into Carrey and Shadyac in Hollywood, California; when he asked what they were up to, Carrey responded with "we're about to make a new movie, you wanna be in it?" Elwes agreed on the spot without reading the script.

The film was shot from July 8 to October 16, 1996, in Los Angeles.

In an interview, 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".[8] According to Carrey, over "a million feet" of film tape was wasted due to people uncontrollably laughing at Carrey's improvisation.

Reception

Box office

The film is the second of three Carrey/Shadyac collaborations, all of which did extremely well at the box office: the opening weekend made $31,423,025 in 2,845 theaters.[9] It was the second-highest, three-day opener ever for Universal, only coming second to Jurassic Park.[10][11] The film also surpassed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to have the largest March opening weekend.[10] It would hold this record for five years until it was taken by Ice Age in 2002.[12] At the time, Liar Liar had the second-highest opening weekend for an Imagine Entertainment film, behind Ransom.[10] The film was ranked number one during its first weekend, beating both the Special Edition release of Return of the Jedi and Selena.[10] It stayed at the top of the box office for a total of three weeks before being overtaken by Anaconda.[13] 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.[14] 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.[1]

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.[15]

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."[16] On Metacritic, it has a score of 70 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."[17] 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.[18]

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.[19][20]

Year-end lists

American Film Institute recognition:

Home media

The film was released for VHS and Laserdisc on September 30, 1997, by Universal Studios Home Video.[22] The DVD was released on January 20, 1998, in full screen format. DTS Full Screen and Collector's Edition Widescreen versions were also released on DVD the following year. The Blu-ray with Multi-Format (including a Digital Copy and UltraViolet) was released on July 9, 2013. It was also released on the 1990s Best of the Decade Edition on Blu-ray and re-released on October 16, 2018. A new DVD was re-released on May 10, 2016, by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. A remastered 25th Anniversary edition was released on Blu-ray through Shout! Factory on January 18, 2022.[23]

References
  1. "Liar Liar (1997)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on December 9, 2018. Retrieved August 9, 2010.
  2. "Liar Liar (1997)". The Numbers. Archived from the original on April 12, 2023. Retrieved August 9, 2010.
  3. Kitchener, Shaun (July 9, 2018). "Jim Carrey played ANOTHER role in comedy classic Liar Liar: Did you spot his secret cameo?". express.co.uk. Archived from the original on July 11, 2023. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
  4. "Jason Bernard – Biography". IMDB. Archived from the original on September 11, 2012. Retrieved January 5, 2012.
  5. Apatow, Judd (April 23, 2000). "How I Got Kicked Out of High School". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on February 22, 2020. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  6. Fleming, Michael (June 11, 2003). "Inside Move: It's not plain who will play Jane". Variety. Archived from the original on February 22, 2020. Retrieved June 12, 2019. Aside from "The Cable Guy," he's done uncredited script work on "Liar Liar" and "Bruce Almighty."
  7. "The Untold Truth of Liar Liar". June 16, 2022. Archived from the original on August 8, 2022. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  8. "Telling The Truth About Comedy 'Liar, Liar'". Lakeland Ledger. March 23, 1997. p. 28. Archived from the original on July 11, 2023. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  9. "Carrey regains crown with 'Liar Liar'". Daily Record. March 25, 1997. p. 19. Archived from the original on September 25, 2023. Retrieved September 25, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  10. "'Liar Liar' Sets Box-Office Record (Honest! Honest!)". Archived from the original on May 9, 2023. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  11. "Carry's 'Liar Liar' has record opening". Observer-Reporter. March 25, 1997. p. 13. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  12. Susman, Gary (March 19, 2002). "Ice Age enjoys mammoth opening weekend". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on March 5, 2021. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
  13. "'Anaconda' Slithers Into the Top Box-Office Spot". Los Angeles Times. April 14, 1997. Archived from the original on September 21, 2022. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
  14. Elber, Lynn (April 30, 1997). "'Volcano' No. 1 but fails to burn up box office". The Associated Press. The Post-Star. p. 14. Archived from the original on May 12, 2023. Retrieved May 12, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  15. Groves, Don (May 19, 1997). "'FIFTH' FLIES HIGH". Variety. Archived from the original on October 9, 2023. Retrieved September 23, 2023.
  16. "Liar Liar (1997)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Archived from the original on July 11, 2023. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  17. "Liar Liar reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on June 7, 2023. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  18. Ebert, Roger (March 21, 1997). "Liar Liar review". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on November 12, 2010. Retrieved August 9, 2010.
  19. Hunter, Rob. "Exploring The Twilight Zone #50: The Whole Truth". Film School Rejects. Archived from the original on May 28, 2013.
  20. Handlen, Zack (March 24, 2012). "The Twilight Zone: "Back There"/"The Whole Truth"". avclub.com. Archived from the original on February 11, 2013. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  21. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs Nominees" (PDF). afi.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 20, 2015. Retrieved December 26, 2011.
  22. "'Murder at 1600,' 'Booty Call' among newest video releases". The Kansas City Star. August 8, 1997. p. 106. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  23. Sluss, Justin (December 2, 2021). "Liar Liar gets a 25th Anniversary Blu-ray in January". HighDefDiscNews. Archived from the original on February 21, 2022. Retrieved February 20, 2022.
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