Jim Carrey’s rise to stardom ranks among the great Hollywood success stories. The rubber-faced king of comedy turned heads in films such as Once Bitten, Peggy Sue Got Married and Earth Girls Are Easy throughout the 80s before making a name on the popular sketch comedy series In Living Color from 1990-94.
But his biggest break came with the back-to-back-to-back success of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber, all released in 1994 to ridiculous commercial success.
The fun didn’t stop there. Carrey stole the show in Joel Schumacher’s blockbuster Batman Forever, which grossed $336.6 million worldwide against a $100 million budget, and then starred in the hit sequel Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and Ben Stiller’s dark comedy The Cable Guy — still my favorite of the comedian’s films.
All told, Carrey’s films from 1994-96 amassed over $1 billion at the global box office. There was seemingly nothing the man couldn’t do. How high could Carrey fly?
As it turns out? Even higher.
In 1997, the actor starred in the comedy Liar Liar. For the first time, Carey dipped his toes into a family-friendly role that catered to more than his legion of fans (to the tune of over $300 million worldwide). For all of his success, Carrey’s early roles latched onto a very specific audience — young adults and teenagers who often imitated his manic mannerisms.
Liar Liar was a huge step into a broader universe that paved the way for dramatic ventures such as The Truman Show, Man on the Moon, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and The Majestic. Where Dumb and Dumber and Ace Ventura made Carrey the king of comedy, Liar Liar cemented the actor as an A-list star. (Intriguingly, with an 82% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s also his highest-rated outright comedy.)
Personally? I think the film itself is a bit ho-hum. The story of a lawyer who can’t lie is certainly a high concept, but the script leans on trite sentimentality and a predictable plot that moves from point A to point B without much creative iteration.
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Yet Carrey’s energetic performance is so amazing that it single-handedly raises Liar Liar to something of a comedy classic. You may balk at the treacle soppiness that serves as the film’s emotional backbone — Carrey’s character, Fletcher Reede, is one of those heartless ‘90s fathers who must learn to love his ex-wife and child before it’s too late — but there is enough laugh out loud moments to render such criticisms moot.
Consider the famed courtroom scene in which Fletcher must navigate a tricky case without resorting to his typical dishonest tactics. The sequence allows Carrey to quite literally go off the cuff and the actor demonstrates impressive comic timing whilst utilizing his patented physical gifts:
Earlier, Fletcher attempts to lie about the color of a pen, but can’t get himself to say anything but, “The pen is blue.” This is one of those silly scenes that may have induced a mild chuckle in the hands of lesser talent, but Carrey plays it to perfection and crafts one of the film’s most memorable moments:
Another standout scene that brought the house down on opening weekend was the “Roast Scene” in which a rival attempts to use Fletcher’s truth-spewing curse to get him fired. The plan backfires, however, as his boss and colleagues think it’s nothing more than a good-natured roast.
Finally, the scene that always left me in stitches was the bathroom bit where Fletcher beats the tar out of himself in an attempt to stall his case from moving forward. The funniest aspect to this scene is that the ploy doesn’t work. Fletcher roughs himself up to an alarming degree and ends up telling the judge he is perfectly capable of pressing forward.
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Overall, Liar Liar is a fun flick that holds up well all these years later. And while Carrey has undoubtedly delivered better performances in better movies — Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, for example — his role in this magical comedy demonstrated that he was more than just a rubber-faced, one-hit-wonder. Liar Liar proved Carrey could actually carry a film with substance and allowed the actor to demonstrate his undervalued dramatic talents.
I’d be lying if I listed Liar Liar amongst my favorite films, but it’s certainly one I pop in from time to time – if only to admire an astonishing talent at the top of his game.