Fletcher Reede calls himself a lawyer, but he’s mostly a liar. Why tell the truth when you can lie your way out of a messy situation? Reede is successful at his job, but his family life doesn’t look really good. His wife, Audrey, divorced from him, bored of listening to his lies, and she’s now seeing another man. The new couple is planning to get married and move to Boston, bringing with them Max, Reede’s son. Fletcher’s not a very good father, but he does love Max, even though he can’t keep the promises he makes to him. That kinda pisses off the young boy, who wishes over his birthday cake that his dad couldn’t lie for a day. Uh oh.
Fletcher’s about to go through one painful situation after another. For 24 hours, he’s unable to lie, whether it’s in court, at the office or anywhere else. That puts him in a lot of trouble, and in a totally hilarious movie. The script is fairly written and the direction by Tom Shadyac isn’t too bad, but what’s great about “Liar Liar” is Jim Carrey, probably the funniest performer in movies. Here, he gives an extremely physical performance: he even gets into a fight with himself in which he “kicks his own ass”! Carrey has the ability to make you laugh all the time. The film has some sentimental moments that would be boring if it starred say, Chevy Chase. But Carrey achieves to turn any scene into a laugh riot, and the film sometimes remind you of those feel-good Frank Capra classics. Around Carrey’s dynamo of a comic performance, other actors offer nice turns. Maura Tierney is good as the ex-wife, and so are Justin Cooper as the kid and Jennifer Tilly as a greedy slut.
“Liar, liar” finds an amusing premise and beats the hell out of it, propelling it into one hysterically funny situation after another.