Liar Liar (1997)

The critic praises Jim Carrey's performance and Tom Shadyac's direction for blending farce with heart in this comedy about a lawyer forced to tell the truth. It highlights the film's appeal to a wide audience and its warm-spirited merriment.

A blessed relief and possibly Carrey's best, most consistently funny film yet after The Cable Guy, thanks to a witty script and energetic performance that makes the most of the nice(ish)-guy role. It is a fast-paced, original comedy and hugely entertaining Saturday night out, slicker and funnier than most current releases.

The critic calls it a hilarious comedy and praises Carrey's frenzied physical and vocal contortions for providing amusing and riotous moments. The role is seen as tailor-made for his antics while also allowing a more human side to emerge.

Carrey delivers tireless manic comic energy in a high-energy family comedy that combines slapstick for kids with innuendo for adults. The director mostly plants the camera to watch Carrey go bananas as a physical comedian.

The critic finds the film a better week for boy fantasies and extravagantly funny, with Carrey relatively controlled yet sustaining a virtuoso display of derangement in key scenes. The script leans on a sentimental families-need-fathers message but delivers when Carrey cuts loose.

Carrey's reunion with Shadyac delivers more laughs and less irritation than recent work, with the truth-telling premise providing strong arenas for his performance while supporting cast gets breathing space. Family scenes turn sugary but the film is more than worth a watch and reliably entertaining.

It is a formulaic knockabout comedy elevated by an underlying honesty and life lesson about truth-telling. The critic singles out the film's central premise of a compulsive liar forced to tell the truth for one day as the source of both its comedy and deeper resonance.

Jim Carrey transforms a formulaic comedy into an uproarious one-man free-for-all with wild and funny results. The film is less sloppy and more middle-of-the-road than Shadyac's previous Carrey outings.

Carrey plays a pathological liar whose world collapses when forced to tell the truth for 24 hours, delivering cathartic honesty in a classic comedy premise turned on its head. The timely subject resonates after high-profile trials involving shaded truth.

The critic finds the premise rudimentary but notes that it reins in Carrey's over-exuberance to deliver likeable, effective mainstream comedy. The film is described as predictable yet solid entertainment.

A surefire commercial comedy that is awfully funny at times and calculated to hit mainstream demographics, with Carrey's physical contortions providing high hilarity. The script lays on emotional goo too thick in the final reel.

The critic finds the premise suited to Carrey but the film lacking, comparing it unfavorably to Disney comedies with added crude jokes, and notes Carrey's over-the-top performance fails to make it fully enjoyable.

The premise is sophisticated but the film calms down after an energetic middle patch, reducing the hero to therapeutic statements. Shadyac directs as if making mud pies, missing the disorderly possibilities of the honesty premise.

The critic sees the film as a one-man showcase for Jim Carrey’s shouty, motormouth antics that plays to all his strengths as a return to form after The Cable Guy. The father-son plotline is occasionally moving, though the over-the-top style will depend on one’s taste for Carrey’s zany comedy.