Carrey at his best

Rating: 7/10 (30 July 2004)

I have to admit, I'm probably a little biased with this movie, as it contains two of the things I love the most in any movie; court scenes and Jim Carrey. I'll try my best to be objective in this review, though. The plot is good, and as the film barely takes 90 minutes it's fairly fast-paced(well, for a Jim Carrey comedy, anyway); I don't think there ever passes 5 minutes without one single joke. The acting is fairly good; Jim Carrey is in his element, so it's no surprise that he's good, but I did find both Maura Tierney and Cary Elwes pretty good too. I know that Elwes is English, not American, and after seeing another movie in which he has a strong English accent(Robin Hood: Men in Tights), I was impressed at how well he does American parts as well. The characters are well-written and credible. The humor is great, partly because it's, well, Carrey, but also because unlike some of Carrey's previous roles, this is fairly "clean", so teenagers and some kids will be able to enjoy it as well. The theme of the film is great; I mean, we all know that we lie several times a day(heck, it's even been scientifically proved), but what about if we, for one whole day, couldn't tell one single lie? Great theme, provokes some thought and is executed fairly well in the film, though I do think it could have been done a tad better. Overall, I don't have any major complaints with the film though; I guess it could be argued that most of what Carrey does in this film, the comedy and all, is stuff he's done before, but that's OK; it's not any less entertaining here, regardless of the fact that we've seen it(or something similar to it) earlier. The dialog is great, with some very memorable and quotable lines. All in all, a typical Carrey film, which can be a good thing as well as bad; Carrey does exactly what you expect him to, and he's very entertaining and all, but it never transcends the standard level of the typical Carrey comedy. On a final note, I think this(as well as his other work) proves that Tom Shadyac is the best there is at bringing out Carrey's talents(he also directed Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Bruce Almighty). I recommend it to any fan of Jim Carrey and/or Tom Shadyac. 7/10