Who's In It?

Frankie Muniz, Paul Giamatti, Amanda Bynes, Amanda Detmer

Who Made It?

Shawn Levy

Where's The Web site?
Big Fat Liar

In Ten Words or Less

"Fun for big and little kids alike."

What's It About?

Jason Shepherd (Muniz) is a liar.  Ok, so that’s a strong term, but it’s true.  He is able to tell white lies, or some of the biggest fish stories one could imagine with relative ease.  Life is not all peaches and cream however, as he tells one whopper too many that threatens to land him in summer school.  Only a last minute paper will keep him out of summer school.  That paper gets “lost” for real this time and Jason is on to summer school. 

He knows he did the paper, but what happened to it?  Maybe he left it behind in the car that gave him a ride to school to drop the paper off?  In fact, when Hollywood director Marty Wolf (Giamatti) announces his new summer blockbuster film Big Fat Liar, it sounds very familiar to Jason’s paper that he lost.  Did Wolf steal an idea from a 14 year old boy?  Jason is determined to prove that Big Fat Liar was his story and will stop at nothing to clear his name on this fact.  Will Jason succeed in getting his name cleared, or will Marty Wolf Productions deliver their big “original” summer film without any credit to Jason?  Who is the Big Fat Liar in this film?  You won’t need a lie detector to get to the bottom of this film. 

Common Guy's Thoughts

Big Fat Liar is a fun film.  We are treated to a nicely paced story that develops from the original lie into a quest to clear Jason’s name.  Along the way we are, of course, treated to a variety of sidekicks including the best friend Kaylee who is nicely portrayed by Amanda Bynes to the nemesis Marty (Giamatti).  This is a fun ensemble cast that looks like they really enjoyed filming the slapstick, corny comedy that this film becomes. 

One of the neatest things with this film is the small bit parts for some of the stars of television in the past few years.  There is a small role for Jaleel White (better known as Urkel by fans and Paul Giamatti’s character).  We get to see Screech (Dustin Diamond), Keenan of Keenan and Kel fame, and even Lee Majors returns to play a Hollywood stuntman (ala The Fall Guy).  All of their appearances brought a smile to my face, especially the interaction between Giamatti and White as they are filming “Urkel’s” new film.

This film is far from being a ground-breaking achievement, but it is light family fare that will keep the whole family in stitches.  I enjoyed my time with Big Fat Liar, and it brought back memories of the original Home Alone and some other fun kid based comedies.  I found it enjoyable to watch the Big Fat Liar try to clear his name, and I think most will enjoy it also.

Grade

B

Parents Guide

Rated PG for some language.  Realistically this is a fine film for all kids both young and old.  There is some mischief that takes place in this film, if you think that might be a problem for your kids to handle.  Other than that the film is a lot of fun that kids will enjoy.
 

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