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rjung Since: Jan, 2015
05/12/2023 21:00:49 •••

Jim Does Something Funny: The Movie

Liar Liar is the consummate film for fans of Jim Carrey; he plays an Ambulance Chaser Amoral Attorney whose life gets upended when he is cursed to tell the truth for 24 hours. This results in 90 minutes of zany comedy as Carrey mugs, convulses, screams, grimaces, and snarks through the worst day of his life, with his estranged five-year-old son hanging in the balance. Of course, he eventually learns a lesson and things get better, but this movie is all about laughing at Jim's antics along the way.

Unfortunately, the biggest strength of this movie is also its biggest flaw; Carrey is so incessantly over-the-top that you can't take him seriously, and it ends up being nearly impossible to become emotionally invested in Fletcher Reede's predicament. In the rare moments of quiet, the viewer is too busy anticipating Carrey's next random outburst instead of identifying with his character, undercutting what few emotional moments there are. The audience's Willing Suspension of Disbelief also takes a hit, as you end up wondering how a hyperactive Large Ham Manchild like Fletcher can get through everyday life.

With a slightly more subdued approach, Liar Liar could have been a heartfelt comedy between a man and his boy, but as it is, it ends up being a typical Jim Carrey zany film with an Excuse Plot tacked on.

Valiona Since: Mar, 2011
05/10/2023 00:00:00

You need to put titles on your reviews, so they can be accessed from the Reviews Activity page. You can cut and paste the "Jim Does Something Funny": The Movie part to the Review Title field, so I assume you didn't realize there was a field for the title.

You raise some good points about the movie. I enjoyed it, but there were some parts I didn't like, such as Fletcher and his ex-wife getting back together. Mrs Doubtfire handled divorce better by showing the main character and his ex-wife graduating to Amicable Exes but not getting back together, so as to not give divorced kids false hope that their parents could get back together.

rjung Since: Jan, 2015
05/12/2023 00:00:00

Valiona, thanks for the tip about the title. It looks like the TV Tropes website has a bug where the title ends up blank if there are quotation marks in it (uh-oh, somebody is not escaping their strings...).

Valiona Since: Mar, 2011
05/12/2023 00:00:00

You're welcome.

That's a strange bug. I've never heard of that one before, most likely because I've never used quotation marks in a review title.

SpectralTime Since: Apr, 2009
05/12/2023 00:00:00

Yeah, title formatting in general is a wash.

I should watch it again through the lens of both your criticisms one of these days. I remember enjoying it as a kid, but perhaps all these criticisms would serve to undermine it as a grown man. I did make similar, if not identical criticisms of Coming to America after all.


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