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Big Fat Liar (2002)
When it comes to judging movies aimed at kids, I can only speak to how well it entertains me. I'm not ten anymore so tastes have changed slightly. But if I'm going to take my child to a movie they will like, I prat it does something for me as well. Films like Harry Potter and The Iron Giant are great examples of movies that work as well for adults as children. These films operate on two levels, providing silly humor for kids ands sly jokes meant to fly over the heads of children to appeal to their parents.
Big Fat Liar makes an attempt to find that balance. The results aren't spectacular but parents shouldn't find the picture to be too hard to take. Their kids however should have a blast.
The story revolves around Jason Shepherd (Frankie Muniz) who is a dedicated and enthusiastic liar. As his father says, it's his god given gift in life. Despite his talents though, he gets caught by a teacher in a spectacular lie. He then has to finish an assignment on a very tight timetable to avoid a trip to summer school. Unfortunately on his way to deliver the story to his teacher, he's nailed by a limo. The occupant is producer Marty Wolf (Paul Giamatti) who offers him a ride, hoping to avoid a lawsuit. The paper is accidently left in the limo. Wolf reads it and steals it as the basis for a new movie. Jason fails to deliver the story on time and is sentenced to summer school.
He later sees a trailer for Wolf's new film and realizes that it's his story. Jason does what any kid in a movie would do, he grabs a friend (Amanda Bynes) and heads to Hollywood to force the truth out of Wolf. Not a cut of the movie mind you, just a phone call to his parents explaining that he did indeed write the story. Uh-huh.
Wolf, it turns out, is the nastiest producer in Hollywood, one who would sooner chew off his own arm than tell the truth. The remainder of the film is a face off between the two as Jason pulls prank after prank on Wolf, hoping to make him so miserable that he'll tell the truth.
Muniz and Bynes are technically the film's stars but this clearly Giamatti's movie. He gets a ton of screen time and throws himself into the role with ferocious energy. Most, if not all, of the humor comes from him as he struggles on in the face of considerable inconvenience thrown in his way by the kids. Giamatti deserves a nomination for the over-actors hall of fame for this wonderfully over the top performance. I suspect he spent time on the set trying to find ways to steal scenes that he doesn't even appear in.
Plot holes are numerous but fairly forgiveable as things glossed over for kids. This isn't to say that it's okay to dumb down films for any reason. But I doubt that many children would find this movie more entertaining if it had a more realistic depiction of the movie business.
This is the sort of children's movie that parents can feel comfortable going to. It isn't loaded with tasteless humor. It actually tries to send a good message. More importantly though, it won't seem like torture for adults to watch. That alone earns it a favorable review.
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