Big Fat Liar

Big Fat Liar
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Shawn Levy
Produced by	Brian Robbins Michael Tollin Marie Cantin Michael Goldman (exec.)
Screenplay by	Dan Schneider
Story by	Dan Schneider Brian Robbins
Starring	Frankie Muniz Paul Giamatti Amanda Bynes
Music by	Christophe Beck Douglas Romayne (source music)
Cinematography	Jonathan Brown
Editing by	Stuart Pappé Kimberly Ray
Studio	Tollin/Robbins Productions
Distributed by	Universal Studios
Release date(s)	February 8, 2002 (2002-02-08)
Running time	88 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$15 million
Box office	$52,970,014

Big Fat Liar (stylized as big FAT liar) is a 2002 American teen comedy film directed by Shawn Levy, written and produced by Dan Schneider and Brian Robbins, and starring Frankie Muniz, Paul Giamatti, and Amanda Bynes. The main plot revolves around 14-year-old con artist, Jason Shepherd (portrayed by Muniz), whose story is stolen by arrogant Hollywood producer Marty Wolf (portrayed by Giamatti), who intends to use it to make the fictional film of the same name.

Plot

Jason Shepherd (Frankie Muniz), a 14-year old living in the fictional town of Greenbury, Michigan, is an incorrigible liar and a con artist. When his English teacher, Ms. Phyllis Caldwell (Sandra Oh), assigns her class a creative writing assignment, Jason does not complete it. His parents are later called into school, where Ms. Caldwell told Jason that if he can't bring her a handwritten story to the community college by 6 p.m., she will not consider it a valid contribution. After remembering that his father told him that "making up stories appears to be his God-given talent", Jason finally writes a story entitled Big Fat Liar, based on his experiences of how he lies all the time. Now finished, Jason rides his older sister's old bicycle and accidentally collides with the limousine of an arrogant Hollywood producer Marty Wolf (Paul Giamatti), whereupon Jason blackmails Wolf into giving him a ride to school. During his ride, Wolf reveals Jason that he is also a liar and con man, but a more professional one than Jason, however. When the limousine reaches the college, Jason hastens out of the limo, not realizing that he has left his story behind. Wolf initially attempts to give it back to Jason, but when he sees that it is excellent, he decides to keep it for himself.

Upon entering school, Jason realizes that he does not have the story. Neither his parents nor Ms. Caldwell believe him when Jason claims to have written it, and he is therefore ordered to undergo summer school. Later, Jason and his best friend Kaylee (Amanda Bynes) finds out that Wolf has plagiarized his composition by making the fictional film Big Fat Liar. When Jason's parents and sister leaves town for a summer holiday, Jason and Kaylee use their savings to fly to Los Angeles to confront Wolf, leaving local bully Bret Callaway (Taran Killam) to attend to Kaylee's absent-minded grandmother Pearl (Sparkle) after Jason bribed him by promising to do his summer school homework for him. After arriving in Los Angeles, Jason and Kaylee trick limo driver Frank Jackson (Donald Faison) into giving them a ride to the studio, where Jason tricks receptionist Astrid Barker (Rebecca Corry) into leaving her post to allow him to speak with Wolf about his situation. Wolf agrees to return the story, but intentionally burns it and has Jason and Kaylee removed from his office.

Angered, Jason and Kaylee plan to inconvenience Wolf until he admits to having stolen Big Fat Liar. Frank eventually discovers their true identities and plans, but eventually joins them after explaining that he was an actor formerly mistreated by Wolf. After gathering intel about how he treats his workers, Frank takes Jason and Kaylee to Wolf's mansion, where they add blue and orange dye to Wolf's swimming pool and shampoo, giving him blue skin and orange hair. Kaylee, impersonating the Universal Studios president's secretary, sends Wolf to a child's birthday party to get vengeance for veteran stunt coordinator Vince (Lee Majors), an elderly employee of his whom he criticized and who had wanted to take his granddaughter to the same party. There, Wolf is mistaken for a clown and a group of children attack him. Meanwhile, Jason and Kaylee "modify" the controls to Wolf's blue Jaguar XKR convertible, causing various controls to perform the incorrect function and playing the song "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" by Eiffel 65, resembling his blue skin. Struggling to control his convertible, Wolf stops just behind a monster truck, but is later rear ended by a vengeful old lady, whom he had insulted earlier, which causes him to crash into it, therefore causing its driver, Masher (Brian Turk), to destroy Wolf's convertible in anger.

As a result of these pranks, Wolf misses his appointment with his boss Marcus Duncan (Russell Hornsby), president of Universal Studios. Wolf and Duncan met at a party to celebrate the premiere of another fictional film Whittaker and Fowl, which proves to be a box office failure. Duncan distrusts Wolf to create anything better and tells him that all the funding for Big Fat Liar will be withdrawn unless Wolf can convince him otherwise. Jason agrees to help Wolf in exchange for a confession of the truth to his father. Wolf, guided by Jason, makes a successful presentation which convinces Duncan to green-light Big Fat Liar and warning him should any little mishap occur, funding for the film will be withdrawn and his career will be over. However, Wolf betrays Jason again and calls his security guards to removes Jason and Kaylee from his office for the second time, but this time, both their schemes and hiding place location have been uncovered and revealed as well. Jason and Kaylee are informed by Rocko, the head of security, that they will be forced out from Hollywood, cover up the incidents they caused, and sent back to their hometown in disgrace.

Jason is about to throw in the towel and prepares to be forever humiliated and disbelieved in his hometown when Wolf's personal secretary, Monty Kirkham (Amanda Detmer), appears after dismissing Rocko, who was keeping an eye on him and Kaylee, and states that, because many of Wolf's co-workers and employees have been abused by him, they are more than willing to help Jason and Kaylee to take revenge against Wolf. Together, Jason, Kaylee, and the studio crew members devise their plan by which to do so. By now, Wolf has either removed or concealed the color of his skin and hair. En route to the studio, Wolf falls into several traps organized by his co-workers including skydiving out of a helicopter piloted by Vince and getting soaked from the Universal Studios Hollywood flash flood backlot prop. Upon arriving at the studio, bedraggled and desperate, Wolf finds out that Jason kidnaps his beloved toy chimpanzee, Mr. Funny-Bones. Wolf pursue Jason until they reach a climactic rooftop confrontation, where Wolf admits to have stolen Jason's story, thinking they are alone, and swearing that Wolf will never tell the truth because it's 'overrated'. Immediately, it is revealed that Wolf has been filmed throughout the confession with multiple cameras. As a result, Wolf is exposed and shamed before all those whom he has abused, including Duncan, who is outraged at him for his act of plagiarism, and from a kid, no less. Without hesistation, Duncan fires Wolf for his behaviourial actions, and Jason thanks Wolf for having taught him that "the truth is not overrated". Enraged, Wolf chases Jason, but Jason runs off the side of the building and eventually lands on an inflated crash pad. Afterwards, Jason and his parents re-establish their trust.

In the epilogue, Big Fat Liar is later reproduced and shown in movie theatres across North America, utilizing the talents and skills of all those whom Wolf had abused. During the closing credits Jason is credited for having written his original story, and Ms. Caldwell is impressed and very proud of him. Meanwhile, Wolf declares bankruptcy and starts his new job as a clown, assigned to entertain the son of the Masher, whom he insulted earlier. Recognizing him, the Masher orders his son: "Yo, Little Mash, show him your nutcracker!", a newly-learned prizefighting technique as a means of avenging the earlier offense. The Masher's son delivers a flying kick to Wolf's groin, and his eyes dilate and rotate.

Cast

• Frankie Muniz as Jason Shepherd, the protagonist; initially a pathological liar. A running gag during the film is Marty Wolf thinking Jason is younger than 14 (that is, until the end of the film when Marcus Duncan thinks as such, and Wolf corrects him, saying Jason's right age).
• Paul Giamatti as Marty Wolf, a Hollywood producer and the main antagonist. Like Jason, he is a compulsive liar, although he views lying as part of his career. He has a stuffed monkey named Mr. Funnybones, which he talks to fairly often.
• Amanda Bynes as Kaylee, the deuteragonist. She is Jason's best friend and love interest who helps him in his efforts to prove his innocence.
• Russell Hornsby as Marcus Duncan, the president of Universal Studios, the studio that Wolf works for; Duncan is very strict when it comes to his job.
• Amanda Detmer as Monty Kirkham, Wolf's personal secretary.
• Donald Faison as Frank Jackson, the tritagonist. He is a limo driver and actor who was previously fired by Wolf, and is more than glad to help Jason and Kaylee in their plan to destroy Wolf's fame.
• Michael Bryan French and Christine Tucci as Harry and Carol Shepherd, Jason's parents.
• Sandra Oh as Mrs. Phyllis Caldwell, Jason's English teacher.
• Alex Breckenridge as Janie Shepherd, Jason's older sister.
• Rebecca Corry as Astrid Barker, the dog-loving receptionist at the Wolf Pictures office.
• Jaleel White as Himself - often called Urkel (because of his reputation of playing the character with the same name in the TV series Family Matters) by Wolf, often to his chagrin.
• Lee Majors as Vince, an aging but nevertheless qualified stunt man.
• Sean O'Bryan as Leo.
• Amy Hill as Joscelyn Davis.
• John Cho as Dustin "Dusty" Wong.
• Taran Killam as Bret Callaway. He is a skateboard punk who consistently bullies Jason and also has a crush on Kaylee.
• Jake Minor as Aaron.
• Kyle Swann as Brett.
• Sparkle as Grandma Pearl, Kaylee's diminutive grandmother.
• Michelle Griffin as Shandra Duncan.
• Shawn Levy as Wolf party guest.
• Kenan Thompson as a partygoer.
• Dustin Diamond, Shawn Levy, Corinne Reilly, and Bart Myer as Wolf party guests.
• Brian Turk as Masher, a monster truck driver

Reception

The film received mixed reviews, gaining a "Rotten" rating at Rotten Tomatoes of 43%, with the site's consensus stating "Though there's nothing that offensive about Big Fat Liar, it is filled with Hollywood cliches and cartoonish slapstick, making it strictly for kids." Some critics praised the film as energetic and witty; others called it dull and formulaic. Nevertheless, it was a mild financial success, grossing $48,360,547 at the box office domestically and $53,970,014 worldwide, all while based on a $15 million budget.

External links

• Big Fat Liar at the Internet Movie Database
• Big Fat Liar at AllRovi
• Big Fat Liar at Box Office Mojo
• Big Fat Liar at Rotten Tomatoes