A Dishonest Lawyer Grappling with the Truth

Rating: 6/10 (24 April 2020)

"Fletcher Reede" (Jim Carrey) is an extremely good defense attorney due in large part to a conscious decision on his part to say anything to get his client off the hook. Unfortunately, this lack of honesty on his part has bled over into his family life with the result that his wife "Audrey Reede" (Maura Tierney) not only doesn't trust him but has divorced him as well. He does, however, have some visitation rights to see his son "Max Reede" (Justin Cooper) but being the self-absorbed person that he is often wastes these opportunities due to work commitments. Naturally, to absolve himself he then lies to his wife and son rather than telling them the truth. However, that all comes to a screeching halt when his young son blows out the candles on his birthday cake and wishes that for just 24 hours his father has to tell the truth. And having built his entire career on lying that becomes a nightmare for him. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an extremely uneven comedy which had some really funny scenes but also featured some serious over-acting on the part of Jim Carrey. Still, the good points managed to outweigh the bad and for that reason I have rated this film accordingly. Slightly above average.