Liar Liar (1997)
Directed by Tom Shadyac
Forced by his son's birthday wish, fast-talking attorney and habitual liar Fletcher Reede must tell the truth for the next 24 hours.
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What critics compared Liar Liar to
There are several scenes where Bullock’s facial reactions reminded me of Jim Carrey in scenes from Dumb & Dumber and Liar Liar .
The yuppie-finding-his-soul scenario is a very old and not particularly compelling one, and the fact that this film borrows elements from “ Regarding Henry ,” “ American Beauty ,” Saul Bellow’s “Herzog,” and the Jim Carrey “Liar, Liar,” for heaven’s sake, does not exactly redound to its benefit.
It’s a Jim Carrey sort of premise, warping Yes Man (itself kind of a spin on Liar Liar’s compulsory character trait) into a Nickelodeon-esque kids-run-the-world movie.
I mean, Hardy is the literal face of this anti-hero origin story, but its failure is not his fault; that the film (and his character’s journey) intermittently resembles “Teen Wolf” and “Liar Liar” (complete with Hardy channeling Carrey’s manic energy) explicitly feels like the byproduct of the worst sort of committee thinking.
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Meanwhile Moorhead's onscreen Aaron evokes a young Cary Elwes, somewhere between the innocent charm of The Princess Bride's Westley and the awkward idiocy of Jerry the stepdad in Liar Liar.
In an idea reminiscent of Liar Liar , a film in which Carrey was compelled to tell the truth all the time, the conversion attracts a range of comedic consequences.
It’s essentially a carbon copy of Liar Liar (replace those lies with the word “yes”), but it’s refreshing to see him back in something funny and harmless after clunkers like Fun with Dick and Jane and The Number 23.
You can't blame him, especially in these troubled times, for harkening back to the profitable days of "Liar Liar," wherein he played a lawyer forced to tell the truth.
In many ways, it's reminiscent of Liar Liar -- only here he doesn't have to tell the truth, just say "yes."
Jim Carrey adds a little comic energy with his performance as Carl just like he did in Liar Liar, The Cable Guy and Ace Ventura.
Jim Carrey made a movie in 1997 titled " Liar Liar " in which his character is a lawyer who suddenly finds he cannot tell a lie.
It’s a fantastical idea that strays closer to Liar Liar than it does The Conjuring .
It wishes it was a lessons-learned folly like Click or Liar Liar.
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Individual scenes are staged to recall the likes of Mrs. Doubtfire and Liar Liar, but it's Ade's depiction of corporate homogeneity that feels too familiar for a while, defined by picky eaters, social snobs, business card-swapping networkers, and ugly-chic poolside bars.
That perhaps the film's funniest bit rests not on the shoulders of Carrey but Steven Carell as Bruce's workplace rival speaks of how little spark is left in the traditional Carrey-Shadyac formula, not to mention the general lack of inspiration the screenplay (credited to Steve Koren, Mark O'Keefe and frequent Carrey collaborator Steve Oedekerk), which ultimately plays like a pale rehash of the far more amusing Liar Liar , right down to the forced sentimentality.
In fact, "Bruce Almighty" is one of Carrey's funniest and smartest movies -- right up to the point when the screenwriters and director Tom Shadyac ("Ace Ventura," "Liar Liar," "Patch Adams") reel in the clever comedy and roll out the stock plot conflicts (Grace walks in on Bruce being kissed by a sexpot anchorwoman and now he must win her back!) and the cloying, heavy-handed moral-of-the-story messages.
In Bruce Almighty, his third movie with director Tom Shadyac (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective [1994], Liar Liar [1997]), Carrey plays another Ace deviation, this time named Bruce.
The second is his devout wish to reunite with director Tom Shadyac, the erstwhile Moses who once led him to the golden land of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Liar Liar.
Oederkerk's screenplay resume includes Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, both The Nutty Professor movies, and Patch Adams; Mr. Shadyac's directorial canon includes the first Ace Ventura movie, The Nutty Professor, Liar Liar, and?does any movie invite more derision??Patch Adams.