It's hard to hate on a movie that has a blue-dunked Paul Giamatti rocking out to Duran Duran's Hungry Like the Wolf. It's not so hard to hate on the standard Disney kids-against-the-mean-adults Home Alone booby trap nonsense.
Big Fat Liar manages somehow to walk the tightrope between those two extremes quite well, never OD'ing us on anything particularly tiresome. Seeing the trailer for the movie, it seemed to be one long torture fest for Giamatti, who plays the dirtbag slimeball producer trope for all its worth (and overall looks to be having fun with it).
It's strength really comes (shockingly) from its two leads. As Jason, Frankie Muniz combines just enough breezy charisma and ah-shucks appeal to perform his Ferris Bueller gag quite well, but the really impressive stuff comes from Amanda Bynes, who delivers some truly hilarious vocal impressions, usually when on the phone.
This is all really tame stuff, will not change the world or ruin it (or the art of film) in any way. It's a good genre picture and can be enjoyed for just what it is, a trifle...which actually, is not that easy to come by these days.
Big Fat Liar manages somehow to walk the tightrope between those two extremes quite well, never OD'ing us on anything particularly tiresome. Seeing the trailer for the movie, it seemed to be one long torture fest for Giamatti, who plays the dirtbag slimeball producer trope for all its worth (and overall looks to be having fun with it).
It's strength really comes (shockingly) from its two leads. As Jason, Frankie Muniz combines just enough breezy charisma and ah-shucks appeal to perform his Ferris Bueller gag quite well, but the really impressive stuff comes from Amanda Bynes, who delivers some truly hilarious vocal impressions, usually when on the phone.
This is all really tame stuff, will not change the world or ruin it (or the art of film) in any way. It's a good genre picture and can be enjoyed for just what it is, a trifle...which actually, is not that easy to come by these days.