Fun for Carrey fans

Rating: 6/10 (5 October 2007)

This is a Jim Carrey vehicle and it's hard to see it amounting to much more than that. But taken in that context it's an entertaining movie, certainly more fun to me than most of his attempts at drama. In this one Carrey plays a man who, as a result of a birthday wish from his lonely son whose party he's missed, finds himself unable to lie for one day. That sounds simple of course but there are many comic complications stemming from the fact that his character is a lawyer with rather low ethical standards who must present an important argument in court. The meat of the story concerns his relationship with the young son, after his absentee behavior is thrown into relief by the mother's plan to move to Boston and marry a straight-laced man (Cary Elwes).
It's worth noting that the film is well enough written to avoid some of the genre clichés in such a way as to actually make the film more interesting. For example in a lot of these types of "divorce dramedy" movies the new fiancé would be depicted in a really ridiculous way, a total obnoxious jerk or loser. In this film he's more of a nobody than a loser, and they carefully avoided making Elwes' character a jerk because in actuality it's Carrey's who is the jerk, at least at first. The fact that the guy is not a bad dude makes it even more hilarious when, for example, he and the son go off to play ball with the glove Carrey bought for the kid. Carrey's got no good reason to hate him or be mad, but he is anyway. And we totally understand! Some of the courtroom scenes are laugh out loud funny, and I also really enjoyed the scene where Carrey's character presents the case he's been preparing and turns on both his boss and his client (Jennifer Tilly). The child actor, Justin Cooper, was refreshingly free of the kind of manufactured "spunk" that seems to infest most child performances in comedies. Basically the movie should be commended for avoiding some of the stale aspects of the family film, but at the same time I didn't feel that it really transcended the genre either nor did it provide any really memorable characters that would have enhanced the human element of the story. It's an excuse for Carrey to once again make us laugh with his rubber face, and he does do that well.