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Jim Carrey is most known for his hilarious movies and larger than life characters. Movies like Dumb and Dumber, The Mask, and Ace Ventura put Jim Carrey on the map for most of the world. But his turn in Liar Liar, proved that Jim Carrey was capable of both off the wall slapstick comedy, and a much more dramatic tone. Liar Liar paved the way for Jim Carrey to land roles in films like The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Without Liar Liar, the world may have never seen Jim Carrey's full range as an actor.
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Your hairpiece looks like something that was killed crossing the highway
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Priceless! This is Jim Carrey in Liar Liar. And of course it is
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What else did we expect from him in the 90s, right? But this is also Jim Carrey in Liar Liar
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I think we've made a big mistake. Mr. Reed, I am tired. This man is a good father and children are not leveraged
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Up until 1997, Carey's performances ranged from unhinged to downright cartoonish. His role in Liar Liar certainly brings a lot of that same energy, but there's something else there too
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Something that changed our perspective on Carey as an actor and shaped his career moving forward
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I have to lie. Everybody lies. But you're the only one that makes me feel bad
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Liar Liar was marketed as a straight-up Jim Carrey vehicle, complete with all the wild physical comedy and absurd jokes audiences had come to expect
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from the likes of The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, and Ace Ventura. From his stand-up days to his four-year stint on In Living Color to, um, The Cable Guy
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It was clear by the mid-90s that Carrey was establishing a pattern
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But when Liar Liar first hit theaters, it came time to reconsider Jim Carrey's legendary status
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No longer just a joke, he showed audiences and casting directors everywhere
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that he was capable of more than an impressive array of outlandish facial expressions
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Instead of opening on a classic Jim Carrey-style gag, Liar Liar starts with a classroom full of children telling their teacher what their parents do for work
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Max Reed, played by Justin Cooper, announces to the class that his dad is a liar
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When his teacher corrects him and says his father is actually a lawyer, Max then shrugs his shoulders
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To him the two are indistinguishable especially since being a lawyer means that his father can fulfill his promise to attend his fifth birthday party So Max makes a desperate wish on his birthday candles and asks that for only one day Dad couldn tell a lie
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And that's where the plot really kicks into gear. The setup manages to add a tinge of tragedy to the overall tone of the film
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Playing the dishonest attorney, Fletcher Reed, Carrie is quippy, sardonic, and impossibly energetic
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and makes him equal parts likable and slimy. Since the film opens with Fletcher's son rather than Fletcher himself
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you're constantly being reminded of that sad little boy while you're watching Carrie goof off and chew the scenery, sometimes literally
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It really reframes the film's comedic antics from the get-go and helps to humanize Carrie's otherwise outrageous character
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This isn't just Ace Ventura attorney-at-law. This is a father who is failing his son and struggling with his recent divorce
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He's a man who's out for himself and his career. He doesn't seem to care how many people he hurts along the way
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and he desperately needs to learn a lesson about humility, honesty, and family
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You know, this truth stuff is pretty cool. I love my son! I love my son
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We have screenwriters Stephen Mazur and Paul Gway to thank for this structure and characterization
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The writing duo only had one other credit to their name before pinning Liar Liar
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1994's The Little Rascals. Though one script was written for children to act out
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and the other was written for a child in a grown man's body, they both have a similar heartfelt feel. The sincerity of the script is complimented by
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director Tom Shadiac, who has worked with Cary before on Ace Ventura Pet Detective
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Through that experience, he apparently learned how best to use the actor's abilities in Liar Liar
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Take the mirrored sequences of Fletcher arriving at his law firm before and after Max's wish
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Hey Fletcher. Hey Pete. You losing a little weight? What's up Fletcher
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Your cholesterol. Cary. The first sequence is much lower energy. Carey reigns in his performance for the slower pace, and the camera follows him around almost
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lazily as he interacts with his various co It all feels very loose and relaxed and yet it executed with rigid efficiency similar to the way Fletcher operates as a character Later on when Fletcher discovers he lost his ability to lie
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everything feels panicked. Fletcher powers through all the same interactions with his co-workers
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except this time, Jim Carrey builds up the energy until it boils over in the iconic pen scene
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The color of the pen that I hold in my hand is royal blue
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During his walk through this office, you might expect the camera work to be chaotic
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but it actually stays consistent with the previous scene. That lethargy really highlights Carrie's increasingly frenzied performance
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We only start to get odd angles, tighter shots, and quick cuts when Fletcher is alone in his office
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and even then, the focus is on Carrie's overwrought acting. Through the language of the film, we're told that this is a man who is totally at odds with the world at that moment
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While everything around him remains mundane, he's breaking down. Not only is it hilarious to watch, but it also gives us a sense of where Fletcher is on his journey of self-discovery
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There are plenty of hijinks in the film and they all follow a similar pattern
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Setting up situations where Fletcher would normally lie and have him fail spectacularly never gets old
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even though they repeat the gag constantly. It was me! He pays his penance over and over again, either due to outside influences or at his own hand
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And sprinkled throughout are little moments of reflection on the part of Fletcher
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After having a monumentally bad day and getting pulled over for changing lanes without signaling
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while running a red light and speeding, Fletcher's car is repossessed and Audrey has to pay to get it
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back. What starts out as a fairly tense argument about whether Audrey should take Max to live out
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of state devolves pretty suddenly. Because he's incapable of lying to others or himself
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he comes out with the line, I'm a bad father. Carrie staring off into the middle distance
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and coming back with a softer apologetic energy is one of his best in the whole movie It a pivotal bit of development for Fletcher character and it helps us sympathize with him as an audience
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But it's also the first real glimpse of the dramatic acting Carrie is capable of
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something we would see a lot more of in future projects, like The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in 1998 and 2004, respectively
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So, by the time we get our big and completely out-of-place airplane chase in the third act
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we find ourselves rooting for him and his family. We can feel Fletcher's remorse when he apologizes to his son for not being there for him
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All this time you've been here and I could see you anytime I felt like it, but I didn't
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I love you and I'll never hurt you again. And that's all thanks to Carrie's charisma and acting chops
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Obviously, we know that this man brings physical comedy to any movie he works on
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After sitting through the entire bathroom scene, it's impossible to deny it
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But those down-to-earth moments, when the script was relying on Carrie to do the emotional heavy lifting
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those were definitely unexpected, but not unwelcome. Subtlety and Carrie are not exactly synonymous, and yet he managed to expertly play both sides of the role
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When the script called for loud and obnoxious action, Carrie exceeded expectations
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And when it called for quiet vulnerability, well, there really was no expectation
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It was pleasantly surprising to see the guy behind the mask show some real human emotion
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and not just any emotion, a complex cocktail of shame, guilt, and familial love
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I have this horrible pain in my arm. Oh no, it's the clock
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No one can stop the clock! Liar Liar proved that in the right setting and with the right team behind him
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Jim Carrey could do just about anything. A solid script by Stephen Mazur and Paul Guay, as well as Tom Shadyak's familiarity with Carrey
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made Liar Liar what it is today. And it should be remembered as the movie
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that showed us that Jim Carrey is more than a guy who talks out of his butt
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Excuse me, I'd like to ask you a few questions. Yes
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#Comedy Films
#Drama Films