Thriller? An Elderly Hitchcock style (sort of) noir
Run Time: 1 hr 49 min
What’s it about? Set in London in 2009, fraudulent con artistRoy Courtnay (Ian McKellen) attempts to seduce millions out of the lonely and widowed Betty McLeish (Helen Mirren) after the pair meets on an online dating platform.
The Skinny: This movie is supposed to be about duplicity and revenge, but it’s just not as delicious as I had hoped it would be. Yes, there is a delightful twist that many people can probably intimate based on the trailer alone (there is a deeper part to the twist that is quite exciting), but on a whole this movie feels a bit slow and safe in almost every regard. It’s less of a roller coaster and more of putt putt course, pretty straight forward with some fairly interesting obstacles thrown in.
GO if: You love Dame Helen MIrren and/or Sir Ian McKellen then it’s worth going. Neither is doing career pinnacle work, but both are enjoyable.
GO if: You want to get a small filmic tour of London and Berlin
GO if: You loved Chicago and/or Dreamgirls and want to support Bill Condon (director)
THE GREAT
I hesitate to call anything in this film great. Please proceed to
THE GOOD
This feels more appropriate.
Helen Mirren and Ian Mckellen are both enticing and share great chemistry. The film is arguably much more focused on Mckellen as he does a brunt of the “action” and is the one instigating the heist (or is he?). Russell Tovey, who plays Mirren's grandson is also enjoyable.
The Score, written by Carter Burwell, resonates both a haunting and luxurious undertone to the picture.
CULTURAL IMPACT
In truth, we are lucky that this film exists in theatrical format. I have nothing against any of the streaming services, I subscribe and watch on essentially all of them. But, the presence of streaming has put tremendous pressure on film studios to generate content that will actually get people to the theatre. The Good Liar is the latest example of a slate of movies distributed by Warner Bros. that just wasn’t really enough. The film made 5.5 million in it’s opening weekend, which is not a lot. This is all to say that it’s not huge. This film is not in major consideration for any of the major awards nor is it making waves.
Run Time: 1 hr 49 min
What’s it about? Set in London in 2009, fraudulent con artistRoy Courtnay (Ian McKellen) attempts to seduce millions out of the lonely and widowed Betty McLeish (Helen Mirren) after the pair meets on an online dating platform.
The Skinny: This movie is supposed to be about duplicity and revenge, but it’s just not as delicious as I had hoped it would be. Yes, there is a delightful twist that many people can probably intimate based on the trailer alone (there is a deeper part to the twist that is quite exciting), but on a whole this movie feels a bit slow and safe in almost every regard. It’s less of a roller coaster and more of putt putt course, pretty straight forward with some fairly interesting obstacles thrown in.
GO if: You love Dame Helen MIrren and/or Sir Ian McKellen then it’s worth going. Neither is doing career pinnacle work, but both are enjoyable.
GO if: You want to get a small filmic tour of London and Berlin
GO if: You loved Chicago and/or Dreamgirls and want to support Bill Condon (director)
THE GREAT
I hesitate to call anything in this film great. Please proceed to
THE GOOD
This feels more appropriate.
Helen Mirren and Ian Mckellen are both enticing and share great chemistry. The film is arguably much more focused on Mckellen as he does a brunt of the “action” and is the one instigating the heist (or is he?). Russell Tovey, who plays Mirren's grandson is also enjoyable.
The Score, written by Carter Burwell, resonates both a haunting and luxurious undertone to the picture.
CULTURAL IMPACT
In truth, we are lucky that this film exists in theatrical format. I have nothing against any of the streaming services, I subscribe and watch on essentially all of them. But, the presence of streaming has put tremendous pressure on film studios to generate content that will actually get people to the theatre. The Good Liar is the latest example of a slate of movies distributed by Warner Bros. that just wasn’t really enough. The film made 5.5 million in it’s opening weekend, which is not a lot. This is all to say that it’s not huge. This film is not in major consideration for any of the major awards nor is it making waves.
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