|
|
THE GOOD LIAR
Director: Bill Condon Cast: Ian McKellen, Helen Mirren, Russell Tovey, Jim Carter, Mark Lewis Jones, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Phil Dunster MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:49 Release Date: 11/15/19 |
|
Review by Mark Dujsik | November 14, 2019 Here's a movie that holds its strongest card until the end of the game. From a plot standpoint, that maneuver is necessary, because to reveal too much too early would be to ruin the perceived surprise of the real story being told here. The Good Liar, though, is only slightly involving because of its plot, which peels back layers of lies, secrets, and seemingly forgotten history to eventually reveal the truth of this scenario. The real draw for director Bill Condon's movie is to see Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren playing against each other as, respectively, a professional con artist and the wealthy widow he has selected as his next target. This is mostly McKellen's show, as his Roy Courtnay—a man who has spent his life lying so often for profit and for survival that he perceives himself to be invincible—plans and executes scheme after scheme, while juggling entirely different schemes at the same time, with malicious pleasure. He meets Mirren's Betty McLeish online at a dating website for older folks, and before we even know that Roy is a con man, Condon shows him to be a fibber—taking a drag from a cigarette even as he checks off that he isn't a smoker. This, though, is normal, considering that we also see Betty reaching for a glass of wine, even as she marks down that she doesn't drink. There's a fun little game on their first date. After the waiter brings Betty a martini (Roy doesn't think anything of this, of course, because he has his own small and big lies of which to keep track), the two chat about their families and their lives. He, saying that he despises falsehoods above everything else, reveals that he used a fake name on the site. She, commenting on how similar these online dating situations become, confesses that she has done the same. In retrospect, one will realize that screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher (adapting Nicholas Searle's novel) has laid a lot of groundwork for these characters. This is the sort of movie about which a critic must tread carefully. That's not because a plot synopsis will give away too much. The fear is that even a mere suggestion—of a character or characters behaving in one way or not quite being what they assert to be—will give away the game. There's almost no way to spoil the assorted, specific revelations about certain characters, because Hatcher more or less pulls them out of nowhere. As for the general thrust of where this tale of confidence games and deceptions leads, it's almost impossible not to figure that out early. Since Mirren's character is Roy's mark, the actress doesn't have too much to do, except to be kind and charming enough that we're irritated with Roy's insistence on taking her for as much money as he can. The initial purpose here is to witness how devoted to con artistry Roy is, as well as how his methods to save his money and his own skin escalate from fibs, to elaborate fraud, to ordering violence, and, finally, to committing cold-blooded and quite grisly murder. The twisted entertainment of that part of the story is watching McKellen relish in his performance, while his character savors the thrill of his own assorted performances. Roy earns Betty's trust quite easily, faking a knee injury and milking a stiff upper lip against the "pain" until she allows him to stay at her house. From there, it's just a matter of Betty meeting Roy's "financial advisor" Vincent (Jim Carter), who knows an almost surefire way for anyone to double their investment. We know what's coming, because Roy and Vincent have been conning two men in a similar way (There's an almost laughably convenient plot device in the form of a wireless keypad for transferring money). It certainly seems as if Betty's grandson Steven (Russell Tovey) senses that the charming old man wooing his grandmother isn't what he appears to be. To reveal any more would be both unfair, because there is a lot more here, and pointless, because the lengths to which Hatcher goes—cramming a pair of extended flashbacks into this story—to ensure the major twists make sense almost have to be witnessed to be believed. Admittedly, the plot comes together with only a few lingering questions about the logic of it all, but then again, considering how much explaining the screenplay does in the past and present, the filmmakers would have to work pretty hard to leave any significant questions left unanswered. As for the strongest card of The Good Liar, well, we're back to having to tread carefully. It has nothing to do with the plot—the flashback, the multiple twists, the other flashback, or the final reveal. The only way to put it is again to say that the movie's real draw is to see the interaction between the two stars. One of them gets to put on a showcase for the whole movie, but the other only gets one scene for that. When it happens, the biggest realization is how much of a wasted opportunity this pairing has been. Copyright © 2019 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
Buy Related Products Buy the Soundtrack (Digital Download)
|
(for
some strong violence, and for language and brief nudity)
