The Good Liar

Starring: Helen Mirren, Ian McKellen, Russell Tovey, Jim Carter, Mark Lewis Jones, Johannes Haukur Johannesson, Lucian Msamati
Directed by: Bill Condon
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Mystery
2019

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An aging con man (Ian McKellen) targets a widow (Helen Mirren) as his latest job. The situation becomes complicated when he starts to develop feelings for her.

Review:

Tim: The (I believe) first pairing of Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen is noteworthy and this should have been an exciting, talked about movie, especially when you consider it was directed by Bill Condon. Unfortunately, it was an afterthought in 2019. It made no waves. I actually considered just skipping it and not watching it. Duty compelled me, though. Unfortunately, the outside view was right- this is a skippable movie that squanders the talent involved. The Good Liar is okay, but offer so little we haven't seen numerous times before.

I read a review of this movie that mentioned the plot, the twists and surprises, were better suited for the novel. In a visual medium like film, it just doesn't work. I think that reviewer nailed it. That was the central issue of this film. I haven't read the book, but the plot felt obvious and predictable. Sure, you can't guess the full extent of the story, but so much of the movie is utterly predictable. You see almost all the big twists coming well in advance. It almost feels like there's no attempt on the movie not to telegraph this. It's a weird experience, watching a movie for the first time when you know exactly what's going to happen. The movie treats it like you can't tell and every time it suggests, "Wow, here's a twist for you!" you just kind of cringe because you'd been waiting for it to happen. This happens numerous times throughout the film. It was so odd because Bill Condon isn't a bad director. He's rarely great, but he has a strong track record with McKellen in solid films like Mr. Holmes and Gods and Monsters. I've seen six of his movies (including two Twilight ones) and The Good Liar is the least effective film I've seen. That is really saying something. I'm not sure if it was just impossible to adapt this story or what, but something went wrong with this film.

The issue really is with the story. I didn't care about these characters at all. They weren't all that interesting, even when they had every reason to be. I felt no emotional investment. Some of this can be explained by the fact that you know exactly what's going to happen, so it's hard to care when things are so obvious. The character development was off, though. The movie presents us with these complicated characters, but forgets to tell us why they matter.

The cast was good and I have trouble faulting them. Ian McKellen is a legend and I'd watch him in anything. He's getting old, but he embraces that for this role. His performance required some range and he excels in that. McKellen is good here. Helen Mirren is another exceptional actor and she delivers a strong performance here. They worked well together. I'm not sure I felt any chemistry between them, which certainly hurts the film. Still, it was fun to see two legends like McKellen and Mirren working together. I also really enjoyed Russell Tovey here. I was a big fan of his work on the television series "Quantico" and I was pleasantly surprised to see him pop up here. I'm not sure Tovey has a long career as a leading man, but I could see him very successful as a character actor. He's wonderful here in a small role. Jim Carter and the rest of the supporting cast were fine. They all did well in their roles. I didn't have many faults with the cast.

I have to say, I didn't have the highest expectations going into The Good Liar. I wanted to like it, but I couldn't. It wasn't exactly bad, but it was consistently underwhelming. It telegraphed all its twists. It does have a good cast and the story is ultimately somewhat memorable. Unfortunately, too many things in Condon's film don't work. This is a movie you could easily skip- you won't miss anything. That's a shame, as we should appreciate McKellen and Mirren, but it's just hard to do that here.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 6


If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Gods and Monsters, Mr. Holmes, Red