Liar Liar

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Liar Liar
Promotional poster for Liar Liar
Directed by	Tom Shadyac
Produced by	Brian Grazer
Written by	Paul Guay Stephen Mazur
Starring	Jim Carrey Maura Tierney Jennifer Tilly Swoosie Kurtz Amanda Donohoe and Cary Elwes
Music by	John Debney
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	March 21 1997 (USA)
Running time	86 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Liar Liar (1997) is an American comedy film starring Jim Carrey. It was directed by Tom Shadyac from a story written by Paul Guay and Stephen Mazur. Carrey was nominated for a Golden Globe Award (1998) for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical. The film is the second (out of three) collaboration between Jim Carrey and Tom Shadyac, the first being Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and the third being Bruce Almighty

1 Plot outline
2 Trivia
3 References in Other Movies
4 Cast
5 External links

[edit] Plot outline

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Fletcher Reede is a particularly career-focused lawyer and divorced father. He has a habit of giving precedence to his job and breaking promises to be with his young son Max, and then lying to Max and his ex-wife Audrey about the real reason he missed the date. Fletcher lets Max down once too often, missing his birthday party, and has to deal with the consequences when Max makes a wish while blowing out the candles on the cake and it comes true. The wish is that Fletcher cannot tell a lie for 24 hours.

Fletcher soon has several embarrassing instances where he blurts out exactly what he is thinking and figures out that he is unable to lie or even withhold a true answer. This comes at a rather bad time as he is fighting a case in court, which, should he win, could be a huge boost to his career. His main witness is willing to commit perjury to help win but Fletcher discovers he cannot even ask a question if he knows the answer will be a lie. Meanwhile, Audrey, is threatening to move to Boston with her new boyfriend, Jerry, and take Max with them.

Over the course of the film, Fletcher realizes what is truly important to him and, at the end, struggles to stop his son from being taken so far away from him. He also manages to win the case truthfully by using a loophole in the law, with the repercussions being a major catalyst to his understanding of what he is likely to lose.

[edit] Trivia

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Content in the trivia section should be integrated into other appropriate areas of the article.

The film was the last screen role of Jason Bernard and the first screen role for Cheri Oteri.

Shadyac and Carrey decided to pay homage to Carrey's days on In Living Color by having him appear as his "Fire Marshal Bill" character in the background of a scene. Look for the character in one of the film's closing scenes, donning sunglasses and firefighter gear, when Maura Tierney's character attempts to tell an airport official that Fletcher is/was her husband.

The song "Five Candles (You Were There)", by Jars of Clay, was originally written for the soundtrack but it was cut from the credits in favor of a blooper reel.

Jim Carrey turned down the role of Dr. Evil in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery to be in this movie.

In the last scene, one can see that Jim Carrey's watch says 12:45 (instead of 8:45, as he said in the movie)

When Jerry, Audrey, and Max are at the airport, after the intercom said "Flight 1511 to Boston is now boarding" and they head to the gate; one can faintly hear on the intercom "Jim Carrey, please report to airport security".

Max asks his father if sitting too close to the television will damage his eyes, which earns him a "not in a million years" reply from Carrey's character. In The Cable Guy, Carrey's character sat very close to the television set throughout his childhood and adult life. Max also asks if he made a face would his face get stuck like that, with a response of "no, in fact some people make a great living that way," from Carrey, which is a reference to himself.

When Fletcher hastily lists his recent traffic offenses to a police officer, he does so in the same breathless, fast-talking manner exemplified by Carrey in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls.

[edit] References in Other Movies

Cal (Seth Rogen) references Liar Liar in The 40-year-old Virgin, calling it a "smart movie" and claiming its moral was "don't lie."

In Bruce Almighty, Jim Carrey's news reporter character is temporarily billed as "Mr. Exclusive." The poster used to illustrate this is an unused Liar Liar promotional poster.