Ahhhh, here we go with a heart-felt tribute to the relics of entertainment: Helen Mirren, Ian McKellen, that butler dude from Downton Abbey. Wait. Shouldn’t Christopher Plummer be in this? How did he avoid this one? I thought Christopher was now required by law to play every major character over the age of eighty. If there are three characters over eighty, Christopher has to play all three; it gets very confusing.
Begin with the understanding that pretty much everything you see will be a lie. It will cut down on the surprise/phony indignation factor considerably, which, in turn, will make it easier to get what’s going on. “Betty” (Mirren) and “Roy” (McKellen) both signed up for grampsdate, the app that cleverly positions you in somebody’s will right before bucket day. We already know Roy is a scammer; taking money from vulnerable people is his thing. But what’s Betty’s angle? Helen Mirren is too important an actress to play a straight victim, right?
How many old people dates are you supposed to have before the subject of estates and wills comes up? In young people dating convo, is this more like “What school do you go to?” or “Where’s your most embarrassing tattoo?” Before doing so, Roy figures he needs some old school QT with Betty the widow. So he fakes a knee injury – geez, if you’re that old, who’s to say you aren’t a point drop in barometric pressure from necessary knee surgery anyway? Sure enough, talk soon pivots to offshore accounts and CDs, much like it would pivot to sex if these people were in their 20s.
Ooooo, check this out; the film ain’t afraid to get dark. One of Roy’s associate scammers thinks his role deserves a bigger share. Roy has fellow goons take a meat tenderizer to the hand of Mr. “Please, sir, I want some more.” Ok, film, you’ve warned me. If The Good Liar ain’t good enough, there’s gonna be pain. Got it.
Mirren and McKellen have both done better work. This is the kind of film where you look around and say, “Is this it? Ok, I guess so. Let’s make the best of it.” I think both actors are excellent, but best used within the context of other, usually much younger actors; it makes them look wizened and sly by contrast. Scheming doesn’t look quite so devious when it involves people of the same age and assumed similar intelligences/world understandings. Hence, it is almost like we the audience are inventing our own controversy: When we find out that one or more of these people is a piece of shit, are we going to be offended on behalf of the other? What if they’re not offended, how about then? What’s left is amiable if a tad perfunctory. The people involved know what to do in a film; it should entertain most people who don’t see 200 films a year. I can’t say The Good Liar will, however, will do much more than that.
The geriatric thief, oh brother
Opines stealing from a grandmother:
“When that bell rings true
You can’t take it with you
So why not take it from somebody other?
Rated R, 109 Minutes
Director: Bill Condon
Writers: Jeffrey Hatcher
Genre: Relics of entertainment
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Old school scammers
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: If you can’t imagine gramps dating … or scamming for that matter, this prob isn’t the film for you
