Heart-warming yet funny movie!

Rating: 8/10 (19 September 2003)

At his fifth birthday party Max (Justin Cooper) makes a wish that for just one day his inattentive father Fletcher (Jim Carrey) will be unable to tell a lie. Miraculously the wish comes true which causes countless problems for Fletcher whose job as a lawyer may be in jeopardy unless he is able to lie.
Director Tom Shadyac teams up with Jim Carrey for the first time since the hilarious Ace Ventura: Pet Detective' (1994) and while one may expect more of the same, Liar Liar' benefits somewhat from having a tighter and heart-warming story rather than just the usual Carrey hijinks. The rubber-faced comic master Jim Carrey is at his best for this movie and while his off the wall antics provide seemingly endless humour, it is the poignant and touching scenes towards the end that really stand out in my opinion and prove Carrey's incredible acting ability. Once again Carrey steals the show but strong performances from Jennifer Tilly and Maura Tierney allow Carrey's natural comic ability to bounce around during the movie and makes for some humorous scenes in which Carrey was not involved.
Credit should be given to writers Paul Guay and Stephen Mazur who managed to create an accomplished for Carrey to feed off, and feed off it he did. The screenplay is fairly tight and, despite a few plot problems, allows for a heart-warming story to be told despite the often complete lunacy being portrayed. The relationships between Max, Audrey (Tierney) and Fletcher are shown to the viewer in an almost profound and meaningful way. Despite Justin Cooper's limited acting abilities (though considering his age one can hardly expect an Oscar-winning performance!) the viewer is made to feel sorry for Max because of all the hurt he has felt in his relatively short life so far.
As with most Carrey films there will be people who just do not find Carrey's unique brand of humour funny. The jokes are generally more mature than earlier films such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective' (1994) and Dumb & Dumber' (1995) which might impress those who were less than impressed with the often infantile humour found in his earlier films but still might not be enough to make an impact on the non-Carrey fans. Personally I feel that Liar Liar' is Carrey's finest work to date which benefits from Carrey's bizarre behaviour, an enjoyably talented supporting cast and a strong script featuring some great gags, witty one-liners and a heart-warming story. My rating for Liar Liar'  8/10.