After recently suffering through the tragic Clockstoppers, I
reluctantly went into viewing Big Fat Liar thinking that it would be
the same. Films with stars of obnoxious Nickelodean sitcoms aren’t exactly
pieces of any value. I expected Big Fat Liar to be annoying,
repetitive, boring, and more or less off. These low expectations contributed
to my love for the material, but the jokes that I saw in the flick were new,
original, and raised the bar for this coming of age style to kids’ movies.
Jason Shepherd (Frankie
Muniz) is a fourteen year-old who constantly lies to get out of doing his
schoolwork. He pretends he’s his father on the telephone when his teacher
calls, buys term papers off of the internet, and uses about every method under
the sun to get out of anything remotely challenging; he is the worlds’ biggest
procrastinator.
One day when his
teacher asks him to hand in a term paper that counts for one third of his
entire semester grade; he tries to lie in order to give himself one more day
to complete the assignment, but in the end she finds out that she doesn’t have
it. She allows him three hours after school to complete the topic, a
short-story, if he can take it down to the Junior College, where she teachers
as a second job. He finds a topic and gets writing, it is
5:45
when he’s done; it has to be in by six.
In order to get there
in time, he rides his sisters pink bicycle; his skateboard was stolen by
bullies earlier in the day. Every thing is moving in a timely fashion and he
is going to make it on time, but a block away from the college; he
accidentally slams into a limousine with the bike. Just to make sure that he
is okay, and that he won’t sue for physical trauma, the driver offers him a
ride. He hops in, and finds out that the limousine belongs to one of the
biggest directors in
Hollywood.
His name is Marty Wolf, and he is shooting a new movie in town.
Jason makes it to the
college just in the knick of time. He hops out of the limo and thanks the
driver for the ride. Too excited to speak, and relieved that his grade will be
saved, he dashes to his teacher’s classroom. When he gets there he finds that
his paper is gone and that he has left it in the director’s car. He tells his
teacher the truth, but due to his boy-cried-wolf attitude, she doesn’t believe
him. Not only is he going to flunk English class, but now an even bigger
problem has been created. The director finds the story on the floor of the
car; and he has just found a sudden inspiration for his new movie.
In Big Fat Liar,
there are tons of little neatly written jokes that spice up the movies ditsy
plot. The humor works because of its short lived appearance, in the constantly
moving plot that makes the film watchable for little ones with short attention
spans. I loved the little clip where Franky Muniz short-circuits when he
drinks too many free Cokes from a tweaked vending machine. The spiffy,
bubble-gum dialogue is what should be appreciated; kids will laugh at the
stupid potty humor, while parents will find the films innocence very
entertaining to watch.
The writer, Dan
Schneider, who also heads the lead actresses television show, “The Amanda
Show”, is absolutely wonderful in creating the prefect delivery for this type
of material. At the beginning of “The Amanda Show” in a cartoon skit, the
Amanda character always says “Love Ya Dan”; this might not be sincere, after
all it’s a recording, but should be. Without him we would just get a bunch of
tired, gagging humor to barely move the film along; but his ingenious writings
make Big Fat Liar a big, fat, juicy movie.
Big Fat Liar is
a fun and entertaining experience for parents and their children. Its sugary
jokes move the delightful material along just beautifully. Frankie Muniz and
Amanda Bynes fit their roles perfectly, and flawlessly execute what little
they had to do. For an enriching experience that will pleasure the whole
family, you can’t do wrong with this flick.
-Danny, Bucket
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