Big Fat Liar
| Big Fat Liar | |
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 Big Fat Liar film poster |
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| Directed by | Shawn Levy |
| Produced by | Brian Robbins |
| Written by | Dan Schneider Brian Robbins |
| Starring | Frankie Muniz Paul Giamatti Amanda Bynes |
| Music by | Christophe Beck Douglas Romayne (source music) John Williams (Universal logo only, theatrical version) Jerry Goldsmith (Universal logo only, video version) |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 8 February 2002 (USA) |
| Running time | 88 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$15,000,000 |
Big Fat Liar is a 2002 American comedy film, directed by Shawn Levy and starring Frankie Muniz, Paul Giamatti, and Amanda Bynes.
Contents |
Plot
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The plot summary in this article or section is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the article. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. (February 2008) |
Jason Shepherd (Frankie Muniz), a fourteen-year-old boy residing in the fictional town of Greenbury, Michigan, is known as a profuse but disorganized liar by his friends and family. When his English teacher, Ms. Phyllis Caldwell (Sandra Oh), assigns her class a creative writing essay, Jason does not complete it. His parents are called into school where Ms. Caldwell tells Jason that if he can submit an original, handwritten essay at the community college by 6:00, she will consider counting it as a valid contribution.
Jason, therefore, writes a story entitled "Big Fat Liar". Riding his sister's old bike, he is distracted and collides with the limousine of arrogant Hollywood producer Marty Wolf (Paul Giamatti). Having been confronted by the driver, Jason blackmails Wolf into giving him a ride to the college. When the limo reaches the college, Jason hastens into it, not realizing that he has forgotten his essay.
Upon his entering the community college, he realizes that he does not have the essay. Neither his parents nor Ms. Caldwell believe him when he claims to have written it. After a day at summer school, Jason and his friend Kaylee (Amanda Bynes) visit a cinema, where Jason learns that Marty Wolf has plagiarized Jason's composition by making a film of Big Fat Liar.
When his parents and elder sister have left him alone for a few days, Jason and Kaylee use Jason's savings to fly to Los Angeles, to confront Wolf, leaving a local bully to attend Kaylee's absent-minded grandmother. At the studio, Jason tricks the receptionist into leaving her post to allow Jason to speak with Wolf. Kaylee takes the receptionist's place while Jason sneaks upstairs to confront the producer. Wolf returns the essay, but (seemingly by mistake, though in fact deliberately) lights it on fire with a match used to light his cigar. Wolf then exacerbates the fire by pouring vodka onto it. With his position secure, Wolf orders Jason ejected from the building.
Jason thereafter makes plans to make Wolf's life miserable, so that he will admit to having stolen "BFL". Some of the attempts include adding blue tattoo ink to Wolf's swimming pool so that his skin is turned blue, adding (with similar effects) orange dye to his shampoo, and reorganizing the controls of Wolf's Jaguar to perform different functions than expected. Distracted by his malfunctioning car, Wolf mistakenly collides with a monster truck driven by an easily angered prizefighter, who takes revenge by smashing Marty's car.
Meanwhile, Marty has an appointment to meet with Marcus Duncan (Russell Hornsby), the President of the studio, to talk about funds for the production of "BFL". Marty misses the meeting, having been tricked by Kaylee into visiting the birthday party of a child whose preferred form of amusement is beating his entertainers. He tells his overworked assistant Monty to supply an alibi. Marty later meets Duncan at a party celebrating the release of his film "Whittaker and Fowl", which proves to be a box office failure. Duncan, as a result of that failure, distrusts Marty to create anything better and tells Marty that all the fundings for "Big Fat Liar" will be withdrawn unless he can convince him otherwise. Marty lies, telling him that he (Marty) has been working to make a presentation for "BFL"; therefore Marty is given another chance to produce an acceptable film. However, Duncan also warns Marty that should any little mishap occur during production, both the film and Wolf's entire career will be terminated. As Wolf worried for his presentation (for which he has not planned), Jason arrives and agrees to help Wolf in exchange for a confession of the truth to Jason's father. Marty, guided by Jason, makes a successful presentation, but rather than fulfill his promise orders Jason and Kaylee deported.
Jason, furious, is about to give up when Monty appears and states that because many of Marty's co-workers and employees (including Monty herself) have been openly abused, they are willing to take revenge on Marty. Together, the children and film crew devise a plan by which to keep Marty from making the "big shoot". By now, Marty has removed or covered the blue color on his skin.
En route to the studio Marty falls into several traps organized by his former co-workers. Upon finally arriving to the studio, bedraggled and desperate, he finds that Jason has taken Marty's prized toy chimpanzee hostage. He pursues Jason, and in a climactic rooftop confrontation admits to stealing Jason's story, thinking them to be alone. Immediately, it is revealed that he has been under video surveillance throughout the confession; as a result, he is exposed and shamed before all those whom he has abused, Jason's parents, and studio President Marcus Duncan himself. Duncan is outraged at Marty for his act of plagiarism and fires him, while Jason's parents re-establish their trust in Jason. Jason thanks Marty for having taught him that "The truth" (as he tells Marty, in a reverse of Marty's own advice) "is not overrated". The film Big Fat Liar is re-produced and shown at the movies, utilizing the hitherto underappreciated talents and skills of all those whom Marty had abused. Jason is credited for having written the original story.
Later, the unemployed Marty finds a job as a clown, in which role he is assigned to entertain the son of the prizefighter whom he insulted. Recognizing him, the father orders his son to utilize newly-learned prizefighting techniques as a means of avenging the earlier offence.
Cast listings
Other parts are:
- Alex Breckenridge — Janie Shepherd
- Rebecca Corry — Astrid Barker
- Jaleel White — Himself
- Sandra Oh — Mrs. Phyllis Caldwell
- Russell Hornsby — Marcus Duncan
- Michael Bryan French — Harry Shepherd
- Christine Tucci — Carol Shepherd
- Lee Majors — Vince
- Sean O'Bryan — Leo
- Amy Hill — Joscelyn Davis
- John Cho — Dustin 'Dusty' Wong
- Taran Killam — Brett
- Jake Minor — Aaron
- Sparkle — Grandma Pearl
- Ted Rooney — Summer School Teacher
- Michelle Griffin — Shandra Duncan
- Shawn Levy — Wolf Party Guest
- Kenan Thompson as a partygoer
- Dustin Diamond as a partygoer
Reception
The film received mixed reviews, gaining a "Rotten" rating at Rotten Tomatoes of 44%. [1] Some critics praised the film for its energy and wit; others wrote of its dullness and formulaic plot. Nevertheless, the film grossed $47 million at the box office.
References
External links
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