BIG FAT LIAR IS RATED PG
”Two friends are about to cut one Hollywood big shot down to size.”
Who’s afraid of the big, bad wolf? Not Jason Shepherd (Malcolm in the Middle’s Frankie Muniz), that’s for sure. Shepherd must face hot shot Hollywood producer Marty “the Wolfman” Wolf (Paul Giamatti) when he goes on a quest to Los Angeles to retrieve his hijacked homework assignment, which was to write a 1000-word story, and prove that the blockbuster hit of the same title was his idea. In the process, he teaches Wolf a valuable lesson: what goes around comes around, so your best bet is to be nice to everyone you meet—especially in Hollywood. You just never know when your actions may come back to haunt you.
"Big Fat Liar" is a smart, sassy comedy that examines ethical issues like lying and stealing in a humorous, ironically, honest way. Shepherd and his friend Kaylee (Nickelodeon’s Amanda Bynes) travel to the City of Angels—which is anything but angelic—to hunt down his paper and the purely pompous producer who is claiming the concept as his own. People who leave this “town of dreams” many times feel battered, broken-hearted, and disillusioned compared to their starry-eyed arrival. Luckily, Shepherd has a plan, and ends up getting his Hollywood ending. Thankfully, many of the people that Wolf wronged rally around Shepherd giving him the support he needs to overcome doubt, and see his idea through. Good once again prevails and the bad guy gets what he deserves—in the movies anyway.
From the first five minutes of film we know chaos will ensue. The opening sequence shows Shepherd sharing three blatant lies with his parents, a few to the big bully on the way to school, and a huge whopper to his teacher—right in front of his entire class! The whole day ends up being one enormous lie.
If Shepherd wants to avoid the consequences of his constant need to stretch the truth, inspiration better come fast. “Making up stories seems to be your God-given talent,” a frustrated father fumes at his compulsive fabricator of a son. Just the inspiration the little liar needed to complete his assignment.
Through circumstances too complicated to go into, Shepherd ends up in Wolf’s (a.k.a. “the meanest man alive”), limousine. By accident, the tale he has transcribed is left behind, setting the whole story into motion.
“You grow up the day you have the first real laugh—at yourself,” claimed actress Ethel Barrymore. Unfortunately, Wolf is forced to laugh after he turns Shepherd’s tall tale into a movie with the typical Tinsel Town flair, and then must suffer the ramifications of his actions when he is confronted by the furious junior high schooler time and time again. At one point, Wolf ends up looking like the fourth member of The Blue Man Group after Shepherd and Kaylee pour dye into his pool. And to think, he could have avoided all of this inconvenience with one simple phone call. All Shepherd wants is for Wolf to call his father and tell him the truth so he will be trusted again. But Wolf, being the egomaniacal, stereotypical Hollywood producer-type, absolutely refuses to do a kind deed.
Shepherd is the smartest 14-year-old fibber from Michigan and Wolf is the dumbest thirtysomething fibber in Hollywood, and together they create a comedic team that will cause non-stop laughter throughout the film and along the journey toward truth. Muniz and Giamatti are a dynamic duo that play nicely off of each other. With an undertone of the Home Alone movies, Big Fat Liar will thrill children and young teens, while still managing to engage parents.
Cameos by Donald Faison (Clueless), Jaleel White (a.k.a. Steve Urkel), and Lee Majors (Colonel Steve Austin from The Six Million Dollar Man TV series), round out the humor factor.
Taking place almost entirely on a soundstage at the Universal backlot, Big Fat Liar creatively utilizes all of the props available to make moviegoers feel as if they are right there with Shepherd and Kaylee.
Lost in the land of glitz, glamour and fame it is easy to become swept up into the hurricane of lies. But Shepherd learns that no matter what, it is important to resist any temptation to join in.
“This is Hollywood,” said Wolf, “it’s a dog-eat-dog town.” It may be. But that doesn’t mean you have to purposefully serve up your enemy at the next victory bash. After all, a little honesty goes a long way.
