The Good Liar movie review

MOVIE TITLE: The Good Liar

RATING: R

LENGTH: 1 hour, 49 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE: B+

IN A NUTSHELL:

First of all, award-winning actors Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen are national treasures. It is such a treat to see them together on the Big Screen for the very first time. Based on the novel by Nicholas Searle, The Good Liar: A Novel , this drama/thriller features the secrets people keep from each other. Academy Award winning director Bill Condon offers a few twists to keep the story somewhat interesting, although it’s the lead actors that are the most fun to watch. As Helen Mirren’s character says, “It’s deeper than it looks.”

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Kids will be completely bored watching “old people.”
Some profanity and several F-bombs.
A violent scene where a man gets stabbed and tossed in front of a moving subway train.
Some German is spoken with subtitles.
Some men fight and get shot.
Two gay men kiss.
Discussion and portrayal of rape
Nude dancers in a quick bar scene
A man’s face gets blown off.

THEMES:

Family
Honesty and the faces we wear
Romance
Revenge
Greed

THINGS I LIKED:

As I mentioned, Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen are fantastic and flawless. The two of them together is a gift to cinema. I love seeing older actors given leading roles in movies.
Fans of Downton Abbey will love seeing Jim Carter in the movie.
I loved the beginning. The typewriter took us back to an era and I loved the introduction of the characters by only seeing their eyes as they typed their dating profiles and correspondence with each other. Helen Mirren’s character described online dating as “mismatching the delusional with the hopeless.”
Some humor.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

The movie starts as an entertaining cat and mouse heist and then turns into something quite different and dark.
It moves slowly.
An hour into the movie, there are quite a few scenes with excessive exposition.
People change their characteristics so much that it becomes unbelievable.
Many viewers criticize the far-fetched plot with holes.

FUNNY LINES:

“I don’t approve of his lifestyle. He designs kitchens.” – Roy (Ian McKellen)

INTERESTING LINES: