2019 Directed by Bill Condon
Career con man Roy sets his sights on his latest mark: recently widowed Betty, worth millions. And he means to take it all. But as the two draw closer, what should have been another simple swindle takes on the ultimate stakes.
Helen Mirren Ian McKellen Russell Tovey Jim Carter Mark Lewis Jones Laurie Davidson Phil Dunster Lucian Msamati Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson Aleksandar Jovanović Michael Culkin Nell Williams Tunji Kasim Spike White Stella Stocker Daniel Betts Celine Buckens Lily Dodsworth-Evans Athena Strates Jane Fowler Dino Kelly Bessie Carter Brigid Zengeni Albert Welling Stefan Kalipha
Bill Condon Nick O'Hagan Richard Brener Aaron L. Gilbert Greg Yolen Jason Cloth Jack Morrissey Anjay Nagpal Andrea Johnston
The Good Liar - Das alte Böse, Art du Mensonge (L'), La gran mentira
Thrillers and murder mysteries High speed and special ops Crime, drugs and gangsters robbery, criminal, crime, heist or cops film noir, femme fatale, 1940s, thriller or intriguing spy, agent, intrigue, thriller or suspense cops, murder, thriller, detective or crime mystery, murder, detective, murderer or crime Show All…
On their first night out together after meeting on a dating site for widowed septuagenarians (OK Boomer?), Roy Courtnay (Ian McKellen) and Betty McLeish (Helen Mirren) take in a screening of “Inglourious Basterds” at a London cinema. It’s the summer of 2009, and neither of these characters knows what happens at the end of Quentin Tarantino’s revisionist World War II extravaganza. Leaving the theater, Roy scoffs at what they’ve just watched: “Young people will think that’s what actually happened.” Betty isn’t so sure — she argues that the modern world has done more to clarify history than it has to obscure it.
More than just a crafty bit of foreshadowing (the full mirth of which isn’t clear until almost two…
90s silly thriller being made in 2019 without a trace of shame in the face of being absolutely campy schlock, trying so hard to appeal to classic movie tendencies to sell a B script that relies so heavily in desperate wave of twists and turns to create any sort of essence, shooting at all sides trying to hit for something solid to sell itself upon. A senior old geezers thriller/suspense? A con-artist crime thriller? Romance? Character melodrama? Somehow all at the same time and never as consistent as it so much aspires to be, but conquered out of the sheer level of excellent performances present here, and being just as weirdly unstable as Bill Condon’s career would suggest!
At best…
From the esteemed director of some of the Twilight movies and 2017’s Beauty and the Beast, The Good Liar is a slightly more well-shot and acted version of one of those random BBC TV movies that starts playing around 3 in the afternoon. It’s humdrum for most of the runtime, and I almost fell asleep, but it does get a little delightful in its preposterousness toward the end. I have no idea why it exists or who its target demographic might be, other than Oscar voters looking for an excuse to give Helen Mirren her dues.
Me 50 minutes before the end of this: wtf
Me 20 minutes before the end: WTF?
Me 17 minutes before the end: WTF?!?
Me 13 minutes before the end: WTF???!
Me 10 minutes before the end: WTF???!!???!!
"Be careful. It's deeper than it looks."
Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen directed by Bill Condon sounds like a blast. And it's a film with a succinct script. It tries to rise above with some twists, but really it felt bloated and unnecessary. I really wanted to like both of the characters or I hoped it would feature a little more redemption.
Vegan alert:
Red meat pounded
maybe the best liars all along were The Good Liar’s filmmakers, who managed to deceive me for the first two-thirds of the movie that they knew what “plot” and “narrative” and “plausibility” meant, only to pull a switcharoo, revealing that they either don’t know what those things are, or they don’t care to respect them. either way... they got me good!
kudos must be given for the set-up: Mirren and McKellan are excellent distractions, and delightful enough to watch that you buy into the way they sort of ham it up for the characters. you may even think, like me, there might be clues or hints in their gestures and looks. if you pay enough attention, perhaps you can guess what…
