Liar Liar

PLOT (spoiler alert!!!):

In Los Angeles, California Fletcher Reede (Jim Carrey) is a career-focused lawyer and divorced father. He loves spending time with his young son Max (Justin Cooper); they often play a game where Fletcher makes his hand into “the Claw” and pretends to chase Max with it. But Fletcher has a habit of giving precedence to his job, breaking promises to Max and his ex-wife Audrey (Maura Tierney), and then lying about the reasons. Fletcher’s compulsive lying has also built him a reputation as one of the best defense lawyers in the state of California as he is climbing the ladder in the firm for which he works. Ultimately, Fletcher misses his son’s fifth birthday party because he is having sex with his boss Miranda (Amanda Donohoe), in the hopes of making partner. Max makes a birthday wish that his father would be unable to tell a lie for an entire day — a wish that immediately becomes true.

Fletcher soon discovers, through a series of embarrassing incidents — such as when he tells Miranda that he has “had better” sex than he just did with her — that he is unable to lie, mislead, or even withhold a true answer. These incidents are inconvenient, as he is fighting a divorce case in court which, should he win, could be a huge boost to his career. His client is the self-centered, money grabbing Samantha Cole (Jennifer Tilly). His main witness is willing to commit perjury to win, but Fletcher discovers that he cannot even ask a question if he knows the answer will be a lie; during the case he even objects to himself when he tries to lie to get the desired information. Meanwhile, Audrey is planning to move to Boston with her new boyfriend Jerry (Cary Elwes), and decides that Max is going with them so that she can protect him from getting hurt by Fletcher.

Fletcher tries desperately to delay the case, even beating himself up, but he cannot conceal that he is able to continue, so the judge (Jason Bernard) insists that he does. Finally he realizes that his client had lied about her age and therefore had signed her prenuptial agreement while a minor, rendering it invalid. This allows him to win his case truthfully, but the repercussions become a catalyst to his understanding of what he himself is about to lose. Samantha who only cared about her ex-husband’s money, takes custody of her children purely so her ex-husband would be forced to continue paying her for child care and literally pulls the children out of the arms of their responsible and caring father. Fletcher then has a crisis of conscience and shouts at the judge to reverse the decision, and is taken to jail for contempt of court. Audrey refuses to pay his bail, which is eventually paid by his secretary Greta (Anne Haney), who forgives him for his earlier rude truth-tellings after hearing he “went all noble” in front of their firm’s senior partner.

Now recognizing his son Max as his highest priority, Fletcher struggles to keep him. He hurries to the airport, but Audrey and Max’s plane has already left the terminal. Desperate, he hijacks a mobile stairway and pursues the plane onto the runway. The plane finally stops, but Fletcher is injured. On his way to the hospital, he vows to his son to spend more time with him and never hurt him again. Even though the 24 hours of truth are up, Max knows he means it, and Audrey decides not to move to Boston with Jerry after all.

One year later, Fletcher and Audrey are celebrating Max’s birthday. The lights go off when Max blows out his birthday candles. When they go back on, Fletcher and Audrey are kissing. Fletcher asks Max if he wished for his mom and his dad to get back together and Max replies “No, I wished for roller blades!” The family seemingly returns to normal as Fletcher chases Audrey and Max around the house with “the Claw”.

REVIEW:

Comedians seem to have careers that ebb and flow. Look at Eddie Murphy…in the 80s, everyone wanted a piece of the guy, but the 90s slowed down for him, with the exception of a cople years where he was making family-friendly films, and then today he is a shadow of his former self, his best current work is behind the mic doing voice-work. Adam Sandler was hot in the 90s, but lately his films have been nothing more than a way for him to give his friends work. Jim Carrey’s career isn’t in that dire straits, but when you see his later films and compare them to his earlier stuff, such as Liar Liar, you have to wonder what happens to these comedians?

What is this about?

Lawyer Fletcher Reede’s (Jim Carrey) mendacious ways destroyed his marriage and alienated his son, Max (Justin Cooper). But when Max makes a birthday wish that magically comes true, Fletcher finds himself incapable of telling a lie for 24 hours. That’s great news for Max and his mom (Maura Tierney), but terrible timing for Fletcher, who’s due in court to try a major divorce case.

What did I like?

In Living Color. Like most of the world, I was first introduced to Jim Carrey when he was “the token white person” on In Living Color. He’s come a long way since those days, but this films shows that the same antics that made him so popular on that sketch comedy show translate just as well, if not better, on the big screen. Carrey is magical in his manic, comedic moments, and also shows he has the ability to tone it down and be serious when he needs to be for the more tender moments.

Love in the elevator. Krista Allen isn’t a household name, because she isn’t a big name actress, unless you are familiar with the Emmanuelle series of films. I haven’t seen any of then, but I have heard of them. Krista’s role as the girl in the elevator doesn’t have her doing much, but as a random hot chick with massive frontal appendages, for lack of a better term, she fits the bill perfectly.

Jennifer Tilly. While I am on the subject of massive frontal appendages, I have to mention Jennifer Tilly, who has hers on full display for all of her screen time. I half expected them to pop out at any second. Those couple of points aside, I did enjoy Tilly’s portrayal as the bitchy wife who wants a divorce. Yes, it is a bit of a departure for her, at least from the roles I’ve seen her in, but she works it.

What didn’t I like?

Wish in one hand and spit in the other. A little kid makes a wish for 24 hours and it comes true. Is it me, or have we seen this formula before? I can’t place it, but I know that someone has used this before. Best I can come up with is Big, but that’s not right. In any case, the kid wishing for his dad to quit lying is all good, but the wishing thing didn’t work for me. I think some sort of voodoo magic would have worked better, but that’s just me.

New guy. Most of the time, when we see a divorced couple, they are down each other’s throats. Making matters worse, if there is a new significant other, they try to keep them separated. That doesn’t seem to be the case here. These are very civil individuals, which is fine, except for the fact that, with the exception of one or two shots that Carrey makes, it seems as if they are all in a relationship together. I would have liked for there to have been at least a little animosity there, just so I didn’t feel like going into some kind of diabetic shock from watching them.

Bosslady. Carrey’s boss is the typical cold-hearted bitch one would expect in this type of flick. She even jumps his bones (and keeps him from his son’s party). What is my issue with her? After that encounter, she sort of fades into the background, other than introducing her boss. They built her up as if she were going to be some sort of primary antagonist, but it never fully played out.

Liar Liar is one of Carrey’s best films, as were all of his mid 90s films. As I said before, he gets the opportunity to show his comedic and dramatic acting chops, as well as do the physical stuff that have made him known to billions. Throw in a terrific supporting case and a decent story and that makes this film a great film for the whole family to enjoy!

4 out of 5 stars

Superman: Doomsday

PLOT:

The film opens with images of Superman doing heroic deeds and Lex Luthor narrating, explaining how people look up to him like he was a god on Earth. Before the credits begin, he says “Enjoy your reign while you may, Superman. For as surely as night follows day, there comes a time when even gods must die.”

Lois Lane and Superman are revealed to have become romantically involved. Lois is unsatisfied with the arrangements of their relationship: Superman insists that they keep it a secret from the public by limiting their encounters to the Fortress, and he has not yet confided in her that he is actually Clark Kent, although she already knows.

Workers from LexCorp unearth a spaceship while digging for one of Lex’s projects, inadvertently releasing the genetically-engineered war machine Doomsday. Doomsday kills the entire digging crew and begins a bloody rampage towards Metropolis. Superman meets the monster in Metropolis, and the two engage in a devastating cross-city battle; the damage to Superman is enough that for the first time, he bleeds, without outside influence from Kryptonite or red solar energy. Ultimately, Superman kills Doomsday but dies shortly after. The world collectively mourns their fallen hero, whom they honor with a memorial in Metropolis.

All of the characters deal with Superman’s death in different ways. Jimmy takes a job at a seedy tabloid newspaper called National Voyeur, Perry falls off the wagon, and Lois visits Clark’s adoptive mother, Martha, for counsel. Even Lex grieves over Superman’s death, though only because he was not responsible for it: “I wanted a winning strategy. Instead, I’ve been cheated of the victory I planned for years by an intergalactic soccer hooligan!”

In Superman’s absence, the police are ill-equipped to deal with the villains he so regularly defeated. When Toyman holds a school bus filled with kids hostage using a giant mechanical spider, Lois, still grieving, decides to fight the villain on her own. As she does, Superman appears to dig his way out of his own grave and apprehends Toyman. However, he does not seem quite the same, missing Lois’ apartment as he flies her home and acting surprised when she kisses him. She dismisses it as shock from his supposed “death.” However, when Martha calls Lois trying to learn why Clark has not contacted her, the reporter’s suspicions arise.

The truth of this resurrected Superman is soon revealed: he is merely a clone created by Lex from a sample of blood stolen from the site of the battle. As such, he lacks all of the real Superman’s memories, including his relationships. Lex is keeping the body of the real Superman preserved in a tube for his personal amusement. Unbeknownst to anyone, even Lex, the real Superman is actually alive, but just barely. The robot at his Fortress of Solitude is able to recover his body and works to bring him back to health.

Meanwhile, the Superman clone begins to take a darker perspective on his job when he hears about Toyman killing a four-year-old girl. He meets with Toyman as he is about to enter the police station. There, he picks him up, flies him above the city, then drops him back to the ground, killing him. The city is stunned, and Lois suspects he is not Superman. The police are unable to do anything about this, as Superman is well beyond their ability to handle.

Upon returning to Lex, the clone is berated for his behavior. Lex sends him on a mission to find the real Superman’s corpse and threatens to kill him should he step out of line again. After leaving, the clone goes to a barbershop and uses x-ray vision on himself and finds a piece of lead-shielded kryptonite in his brain, which he then extracts. At the same time, Lois meets with Lex under the guise of wanting to move on, but first wants to know how he corrupted Superman. As she leans in to kiss him, she stabs him with a tranquilizer and begins looking through his files with Jimmy’s help. She and Jimmy discover that Lex is cloning an army of Supermen. After Lex comes to and threatens them, the original clone arrives and destroys the facility. Unable to kill the clone, Lex tries to hide in a lead-lined, red-sunlight room, only to have the clone lock Lex inside and toss the entire room to the street. This latest presumed murder triggers military action. Again, they cannot harm Superman.

Hearing the news, the real Superman resolves to help, even though his powers are not yet fully restored. To improve his odds he dons a black sunlight-absorbing “Solar Suit” and brings a kryptonite gun developed by Lex. The two engage in a massive battle, with Superman’s kryptonite gun failing to hit the much faster clone. Jimmy and Lois grab the kryptonite gun to help Superman, though still unsure if he’s the real one or not. The fight culminates at Superman’s memorial, where Lois manages to hit the clone with a shot from the kryptonite gun. The clone destroys the gun, leaving only the kryptonite canister. As the two Supermen continue their battle, the canister sticks to the clone’s chest, and Superman vaporizes it with his heat vision. The clone, overcome by the kryptonite gas, falls under the rock he was carrying. Dying, he tells Superman to protect the people. Lois is convinced that he’s the real Superman once he kisses her, and the crowd is similarly happy to be rid of the clone.

At Lois’ apartment, Superman sees that she misspelled “resurrection” in her article, where he mentions he was a spelling bee champ at Smallville Elementary, revealing himself to be Clark Kent. Lois is caught off guard by his off the cuff statement, but the two share a smile and she happily embraces him. At LexCorp, mirroring the movie’s beginning, an injured Lex narrates the ending, saying how gods can die but can also return from the dead. He smiles to himself, saying, “It would seem you can’t be destroyed after all, Superman. It would seem…”.

REVIEW:

I’m far from being the biggest Superman fan, but when this comic came out back in ’93, I rushed out to get it. I still have it in mint condition locked away in a box for safe keeping. Think I’ve read it like all of 3 times at most since I bought it. Though I haven’t read it often, I do know that this direct-to-DVD adaptation took more than a few liberties with the story.

I could sit here and go over each and every difference I can between the comic and the film, but I’ll spare you. The major ones are the lack of the “replacement” Supermen (one of which was brought to life by Shaquille O’Neal…remember Steel?) and second Doomsday fought Superman and the Justice League, not just Superman. Let’s not forget, that by this time Lois knows Clark and Superman are one and the same and Jonathan Kent is still alive. I can go on, but I’ll stop there.

Aside from the obvious changed to the story, this is actually one of the better comic to animation adaptations I’ve seen. I believe that they changed the whole death scene to appeal to a younger crowd, though. I have mixed feelings about that, but I understand.

The voice cast includes Chuck’s Adam Baldwin, Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s James Marsters, Pushing Daisies’Swoozie Kurtz, Reaper’s Ray Wise,  Anne Heche along with some other notable voice actors.

All do their characters justice, except Anne Heche. I don’t know why it is, maybe because of some reviews I read before watching, but she just didn’t seem to fit as the voice of Lois Lane.

The fight scenes are pretty good. I think they could have been better, especially the one between the two Supermen, but that’s just my personal opinion.

If you’re a comic or Superman fan, then you’ll love this film. It’s pretty solid. Shame the writers of this one didn’t write Superman III, IV and/or Superman Returns.

3  1/2 out of 5 stars