Liar Liar
A lawyer is cursed to tell only the truth for one day.
Liar Liar is a 1997 American comedy from director Tom Shadyac, with a script by Paul Guay and Stephen Mazur. Jim Carrey plays Fletcher Reede, a lawyer who, after his son makes a birthday wish, finds himself unable to tell a lie for an entire day. This forces him to navigate his career and repair his strained relationships with his ex-wife and son, which his habitual dishonesty had damaged. The movie marked the second of three collaborations between Carrey and Shadyac, coming after *Ace Ventura: Pet Detective* (1994) and before *Bruce Almighty* (2003).
The film premiered at the Universal Amphitheatre on March 18, 1997, and hit U.S. theaters on March 21, 1997, distributed by Universal Pictures. Critics received it well, and it earned $303 million worldwide against a $45 million budget. Carrey earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor at the 55th ceremony.
In the plot, Fletcher Reede, a divorced defense lawyer in Los Angeles, prioritizes his career over his young son Max and ex-wife Audrey, often breaking promises and lying about it. After missing Max’s fifth birthday party to have sex with a senior partner, Miranda, for a promotion, Max wishes his father would be honest for one day. The wish comes true, and Fletcher finds he cannot lie, mislead, or hide the truth. This costs him his car (after confessing all traffic violations to a police officer), alienates Miranda and his secretary Greta, and cripples his courtroom performance.
Fletcher’s client, Samantha Cole, is a gold digger trying to void her prenuptial agreement with ex-husband Richard. Her lover, Kenneth Falk, is ready to commit perjury, but Fletcher cannot suborn it. Meanwhile, Audrey plans to move to Boston with her new fiancé Jerry to protect Max from Fletcher’s unreliability. Miranda tries to get Fletcher fired by baiting him into insulting a senior partner, but the partner mistakes the insults for humor. In court, Fletcher stages a fake assault on himself to get a continuance, but cannot lie about his reason. He accidentally reveals Samantha’s real age, then argues her prenup is invalid because she signed it as a minor. The judge awards her half of Richard’s assets, but when she demands custody of their children for more money, Fletcher realizes he has hurt a loving father. He demands the judge reverse the ruling, gets held in contempt, and is arrested.
Quick Facts
- Director
- Tom Shadyac
- Producer
- Brian Grazer
- Writer
- Paul Guay / Stephen Mazur
- Starring
- Jim Carrey / Maura Tierney / Cary Elwes / Jennifer Tilly / Swoosie Kurtz / Amanda Donohoe / Anne Haney / Justin Cooper
- Music
- John Debney / James Newton Howard (theme)
- Cinematography
- Russell Boyd
- Editing
- Don Zimmerman
- Studio
- Imagine Entertainment
- Distributor
- Universal Pictures
- Released
- 18 March 1997 · Universal Amphitheatre · 1997 · 3 · 21 · United States
- Runtime
- 86 minutes
- Country
- United States
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The film was shot from July 8 to October 16, 1996, in Los Angeles. In an interview, Carrey said filming 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. In order to star in the film, Carrey chose not to play the role of Dr. Evil in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. Cary Elwes was commissioned to portray the role of Jerry by 'pure chance', having previously worked with Shadyac.
Reader's Guide
Liar Liar 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. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four and wrote, '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. At the 55th Golden Globe Awards, Carrey was nominated for Best Actor. The film was the second-highest, three-day opener ever for Universal Pictures, only coming second to Jurassic Park, and surpassed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to have the largest March opening weekend. It stayed at the top of the box office for a total of three weeks. In North America, it made $181,410,615, and in other territories it made $121,300,000 for a total of $302,710,615.
Did You Know?
- Liar Liar was the film debut of actress Sara Paxton, who played one of Max's classmates.
- It was 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.
- Carrey has a cameo appearance as Fire Marshall Bill at the end of the film, reprising his role from In Living Color.
- Some critics noted similarities between the plot and an episode of The Twilight Zone entitled 'The Whole Truth'.
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