Big Fat Liar

Released 2002
Stars Frankie Muniz, Paul Giamatti, Amanda Bynes, Amanda Detmer, Lee Majors
Directed by Shawn Levy

Big Fat Liar is about a 14 year-old boy named Jason Shepherd (Frankie Munizn), who has a knack for spinning tall tales. Through a mix-up he drops his short story in a limo with Marty Wolf, who's a hot-shot Hollywood producer making a movie in Jason's hometown in Michigan. This forces Jason to take summer school, and imagine his shock when he's sitting in a movie theater and sees a preview based on his short story. This sets Jason on a mission to regain his dad's trust by getting Marty Wolf to admit that he stole his paper.

This is a fun family film (no profanity or sexual innuendo) for people of all ages. I wasn't expecting much, but my kids (5 and 7), my wife, and I all enjoyed it. What made it work for me was Frankie Muniz and Amanda Bynes as the two kids. Frankie Muniz has a nice screen presence without the smart-aleck, know-it-all attitude that most child actors have, and Amanda Bynes brings a bundle of energy to her role. While there's nothing new in this movie, it does a good job of mixing slapstick for the kids with humor for the adults. It also has an uncredited appearance by Jaleel White that pokes fun at his career as Urkel, which is pretty funny.

Summary by Bill Alward, February 16, 2002