Carrey's comedic talent makes for an entertaining film

Rating: 7/10 (17 August 2019)

Liar Liar is a comedy. It'll make you laugh. Beyond that, it doesn't have much to offer, but that is to be expected when you see a comedy starring Jim Carrey.
The plot of this film is incredibly thin and unimaginative. Clearly most of the writing went into the jokes, and not the story. I can ignore this for the most part because, again, the sole purpose of this film is to make us laugh. But the idea that a lawyers neglected son makes a birthday wish that his dad cannot tell a lie for one day (and it comes true) is quite ludicrous. I mean, that's what the whole movie is based on. To watch this, you don't just have to stretch your imagination, you have to throw reality away altogether and fully immerse yourself in this ridiculous story. But, if you can do that, it's actually quite funny, and you'll have a good time with it. As long as you remember that the movie is not meant to be at all plausible, you should have a fun time.
Of course, this is a comedy, so who cares about the plot, right? All that matters is whether or not it makes you laugh enough to justify its existence. And I can say, this film does accomplish that goal. There are some genuinely hilarious moments in this movie, though I have to say, it did feel like most of the funniest material was in the middle of the film. The beginning and end were a little weak on the humor. However, I can disregard this for the most part because of how funny the second act is. When Fletcher (Jim Carrey) first realizes that he is unable to tell lies, it was almost non-stop laugh-out-loud humor. It may not have had the most well thought-out script, but the comedy in this film was incredibly clever at many moments. Again, you have to be willing to forget about how dumb the plot is, but as long as you can do that, this is a hilarious movie.
The messaging of this film was also a nice touch. Essentially, it is teaching that family is always the most important thing, and spending time with the people you love is something you never have an excuse to skip. I guess there was kind of a message about being honest as well, but that was more unclear, because Fletcher's explanation of how lying is sometimes necessary as an adult is actually quite true. I mean let's be honest, we can see from this movie how impossible it would be to get around always being completely honest with everyone. I guess you could say the message is to be honest to those you love and trust, which would make more sense. Anyway, the messages of this movie are good, but I've seen them done better in other films (for example, the importance of spending time with family is illustrated much better in the movie "Elf"). Again, being a comedy, the messages are not quite as important for a film like this, so it was really just an added bonus to have something else besides laughter that you can take away from this movie.
Of course, the number one reason this film works is because of the incredible comedic talent of Jim Carrey. He is the reason so much of the humor is able to land effectively. It was also interesting to see him playing a mostly normal person. We still do get his way over-the-top scenes every now and then that are, for the most part, pretty funny, though I actually preferred most of the humor that was delivered while he was acting normal. Carrey's overacting was still effective in getting some laughs, though, and he was the sole reason this film worked in the first place. Without him, this would have been a terrible movie, but because of him, it's a solidly entertaining film.
Beyond Carrey, the rest of the performances were passable. None of them were outright terrible, but it was mostly a bunch of mediocre performances where no one in particular stood out. With this being Jim Carrey's movie, and for the most part, his movie alone, this didn't really have a huge negative impact on the end result. However, I do still feel that it would have helped to have a few more dynamic performances beyond just Carrey's.
Liar Liar is overall a film that's both entertaining and funny enough to justify its existence. Jim Carrey's acting abilities allow the humor to land quite effectively, creating many laugh-out-loud moments. A thin plot and poorly executed messages hold this back from being a great film, but it's still a fun movie to watch.