| Liar Liar | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Tom Shadyac |
| Written by |
|
| Produced by | Brian Grazer |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Russell Boyd |
| Edited by | Don Zimmerman |
| Music by | John Debney James Newton Howard (theme) |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 86 minutes[2] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $45–65 million[3][4] |
| Box office | $302.7 million[2] |
Liar Liar is a 1997 Americanfantasy comedy film starringJim 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 hispathological lying. The film was directed byTom Shadyac, and is the second of three collaborations between Carrey and Shadyac, the first beingAce Ventura: Pet Detective.
Liar Liar was released in the United States on March 18, 1997 byUniversal Pictures. The film received positive reviews from critics, and grossed $303 million against a budget of $45 million. At the55th Golden Globe Awards, Carrey was nominated forBest Actor.
Fletcher Reede is a divorced defense lawyer living inLos 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 carimpounded when he confesses all of histraffic 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, agold 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 tosuborn perjury. Meanwhile, Audrey is considering a move toBoston 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 acontinuance, specifically because his only possible grounds were, "I can't lie." Knowing that he cannot refute the proof of Samantha'sadultery, her grousing accidentally reveals her real age. He successfully disputes the validity of herprenup, signed as a minor withoutparental 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 todemanding custody of their children for extrachild 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 incontempt.
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 forrollerblades.
In addition to portraying Fletcher Reede, Carrey has acameo 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 fromIn Living Color.[5]Liar Liar was the film debut of actressSara Paxton, who played one of Max's classmates who attends his birthday party. It was also the last film to featureDon Keefer, who retired in 1997 before he died in 2014, andJason Bernard, who died shortly after filming was completed. The film was dedicated in Bernard's memory.[6]
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 ofangst, completely freaking out all the time. I would go home with total exhaustion".[7] The script was rejected by numerousHollywood studios until it was picked up byBrian Grazer andImagine Entertainment.[8] The role of Fletcher Reede was envisioned forTom Hanks andSteve Martin.Hugh Grant was interested in the role, but backed out due to theDivine Brown scandal.[8] Cary Elwes got cast as Jerry for "pure chance" and having previously worked with director Tom Shadyac.[9]
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.[10] It was the second-highest, three-day opener ever forUniversal Pictures, only coming second toJurassic Park.[11][12] The film also surpassedTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to have the largest March opening weekend.[11] It would hold this record for five years until it was taken byIce Age in 2002.[13] At the time,Liar Liar had the second-highest opening weekend for an Imagine Entertainment film, behindRansom.[11] The film was ranked number one during its first weekend, beating both the Special Edition release ofReturn of the Jedi andSelena.[11] It stayed at the top of the box office for a total of three weeks before being overtaken byAnaconda.[14] By late April 1997,Liar Liar had already surpassed the Special Edition release ofStar Wars to become the top-grossing film of the year.[15] 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.[2]
In Denmark,Liar Liar earned $453,000 in its opening weekend, making it the third-highest opening for any Universal film in the country, afterTwister andJurassic Park.[16]
The film received positive reviews from critics. OnRotten 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."[17] OnMetacritic, it has a score of 70 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[18] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave it an "A−" grade from an A+ to F scale.[citation needed]
Roger Ebert of theChicago 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 filmsDumb and Dumber andAce Ventura: Pet Detective.[19]
Some critics noted similarities between the plot with that of an episode ofThe Twilight Zone entitled "The Whole Truth" where aused-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 inLiar 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.[20][21]
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards | April 28, 1998[22] | Top Box Office Films | John Debney[a] | Won[b] | [23] |
| Golden Globe Awards | January 18, 1998 | Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Jim Carrey | Nominated | [24][25] |
| MTV Movie & TV Awards | May 30, 1998 | Best Comedic Performance | Jim Carrey | Won | [26][27] |
| Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards | April 4, 1998 | Favorite Movie | Liar Liar | Nominated | [28] |
| Favorite Movie Actor | Jim Carrey | Nominated | |||
| People's Choice Awards | January 11, 1998 | Favorite Comedy Motion Picture | Liar Liar | Won | [29][30] |
| Young Artist Award | March 14, 1998 | Best Performance in a Feature Film: Young Actor Age Ten or Under | Justin Cooper | Nominated | [31] |
American Film Institute recognition:
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The film was released forVHS andLaserDisc on September 30, 1997, by Universal Studios Home Video.[33] 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. TheBlu-ray with Multi-Format (including adigital copy andUltraViolet) 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, byUniversal Pictures Home Entertainment. A remastered 25th Anniversary edition was released on Blu-ray throughShout! Factory on January 18, 2022.[34]
