Steve Pulaski
I've been making something of a mental checklist to revisit movies from my childhood that I was supposed to see when I was roughly seven or so but evaded in favor of more obscure pictures that I really wasn't supposed to watch at that age. Such films are The Lizzie McGuire Movie, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, the two Agent Cody Banks films, and many others that strike a nostalgia chord with me solely because they came out right around the time I was immersing myself in film.Shawn Levy's Big Fat Liar is a film I watched as a young child in pieces. I'd watch and digest maybe twenty minutes at a time - over the course of several months - before I could say I saw the entire film. Sitting through it today, in its eighty-seven entirety, it is not the immature affair I expected it to be. In fact, it's kind of spirited and lively, to the point where I find myself replaying sequences in my head, ones I didn't laugh at before, and now silently giggle at their geniality and the silliness they employ.One particular scene comes later in the film, where Paul Giamatti's character has already been manipulated unconditionally by Frankie Muniz and Amanda Bynes to the point where he is ready to call the day quits entirely. He gets in his beautiful, expensive car, only to discover all of his gadgets and functions have been rewired. The brake is the horn, the turn signal is the radio, etc. While Giamatti is pressing random buttons and twisting/turning random gizmos in his car, hoping in vein something works, his radio blasts the infectious song "I'm Blue" by Eiffel 65 and angers other drivers around him. The scene is so goofy and unexpected that the only rational response is to laugh and embrace the current situation.I'll catch you up; Jason Shepherd (Frankie Muniz) is a fourteen year old boy, known by his family and teacher as a pathological liar who enjoys dreaming up ways to get himself out of trouble. One day, he doesn't write his English paper on time, so is given a time extension, which he utilizes efficiently to write a semi-autobiographical story called "Big Fat Liar." He races to school on his sister's bright pink bike (the bullies stole his skateboard), and crashes into the limousine of Marty Wolf (Paul Giamatti), a cocky, wealthy movie producer. He reluctantly agrees to give Jason a ride, but Jason finds, after spilling the contents of his backpack in Wolf's limo, he left the essay in the company of Wolf.Wolf, currently in a career slump with failure after failure, reads "Big Fat Liar," loves it, and decides it deserves a film-counterpart on the big screen. Without Jason's approval or consent, Wolf hurries the film into production, leaving Jason understandably upset and cheated. He decides, in an act of desperation, him and his close friend Kaylee (Amanda Bynes) will pack up their things and head out to California to get Wolf to admit to his parents that he stole the idea from him in an attempt to earn back his parents trust.In summation, Jason and Kaylee pretty much make Wolf's life a living hell, first by putting blue dye in his pool water and orange dye in his shampoo, giving him the appearance of a ginger-Smurf. They continue to manipulate him with torturous actions, like the one I wrote about above, hoping Wolf will crack and admit his wrongdoing. They team up with other actors-turned-employees for the arrogant producer, who relish the thought of exacting revenge on him for his terrible treatment of coworkers.This kind of plot is the perfect definition of "serviceable." It doesn't look to offend, provides maybe a good, healthy laugh or too, and then allows you to go about your day with almost nothing to further contemplate or feast on. There's good and bad to that; in a world where the bar for children's films have been raised by the likes of Pixar, something like Big Fat Liar isn't necessary in their cinematic diet. The film was written by Dan Schneider, who has been the driving force behind nearly every teen-sitcom on Nickelodeon. Big Fat Liar plays almost identically to an episode of, say, Drake and Josh. Some jokes are funny, some fall flat, and you're left with an average episode that wasn't a burden but not an explosive winner.Muniz and Bynes, however, have great chemistry, and there are unfortunately a depressing shortage of their gracious performances today, which is kind of a shame. The two had careers that seemed to end before they started, especially Muniz, who seemed to be disposed-of by the public after Malcolm in the Middle came to a close and Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London was released. The real performance to watch here, on the other hand, is Giamatti's, who is extremely funny and off-the-wall as a venomous movie producer, who may in fact just be nicer than real Hollywood producers. His transcend into lunacy and madness, especially in the third act, is wonderful and is played off effectively thanks to great comic-timing and spirit on his part.Big Fat Liar is not a film I'd recommend to adults. No one over ten will express much interest in seeing the film, but for the brave souls who do, for nostalgic reasons or curiosity reasons, the film is at least smart enough to show you a good, marginally-creative time. There's a pleasantly kind soul to its roots and an entertaining series of events that unfold, even if you're expecting them.Starring: Frankie Muniz, Amanda Bynes, Paul Giamatti. Directed by: Shawn Levy.
zombiefan89
He just happens to have enough money saved up for a trip to Hollywood and his...uh girlfriend? Amanda Binds is a cute sick kick, but you don't really see her character develop. She just goes along with his plans supporting him. Her character has just as many strange conviences as Frankie's. Her parents just happened to be MIA over the summer and her old grandmother can't tell her apart from a 6ft. jock? That jock by the way, wouldn't give back a skate board, but will live with a strange old women and wear a dress for a few days. Also, what about his parents? Wouldn't they notice he was missing? The villain, Marty Wolf, was a hatable guy enough, but it took him just a little too long to notice he was BLUE! That driver was another strange convience. He just happened to have been mistreated by Wolf, as well?
