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Dom Robinson reviews
- Cert:
- Cat.no: 9027711
- Running time: 84 minutes
- Year: 2002
- Pressing: 2003
- Region(s): 2, 4 (UK PAL)
- Chapters: 18 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English for the hard of hearing
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras:Spotlight on location, Deleted scenes, Trivia Challenge, Universal StudiosBack Lot, Are you a Big Fat Liar?, Trailer, Two Audio Commentaries
Director:
- Shawn Levy
(Big Fat Liar, Fever Pitch (2003), Just in Time, Just Married, TV: Birds of Prey, The Secret World of Alex Mack)
Producers:
- Brian Robbins and Michael Tollin
Screenplay:
- Dan Schneider
Original Score :
- Christophe Beck
Cast :
- Jason Shepherd: Frankie Muniz
Marty Wolf: Paul Giamatti
Kaylee: Amanda Bynes
Monty Kirkham: Amanda Detmer
Frank Jackson: Donald Faison
Mrs Caldwell: Sandra Oh
Vince: Lee Majors
As his Dad confirms, being a Big Fat Liaris Jason Shepherd’s (Frankie Muniz) god-given talent.
He tells about as much truth as Eastenders‘ Dirty Den, once criticisedfor being so bent that he failed technical drawing at school because he couldn’tget a ruler that was straight. Hence, when he does actually complete animportant assignment – a story entitled “Big Fat Liar” – no-one believes thathe was run over by a car owned by Hollywood bigwig Marty Wolf (Paul Giamatti,who seems to be the actor you get if Jon Lovitz is otherwise engaged), wasgiven a lift to school by him, and that he left the story behind in the car.
While at the cinema with his best friend Kaylee (Amanda Bynes), theysee a trailer for Wolf’s latest film, made from the aforementioned scriptand so to prove to his parents that he’s not just ‘the boy who cried wolf’,they set off to Los Angeles in order for good to triumph over evil. Aftera quick sightseeing tour and limo drive from chauffeur Frank (Donald Faison,aka Turk from Scrubs), the idea is to stop off at the Universal StudiosTour and track Wolf down to make him spill the beans about stealing their script,with a little bit of help from Frank because he was also once wronged by Wolf.
This is the kind of movie that’ll work for young teenagers, but having turned30 I already saw this type of film around fifteen years ago. The use of acolourful set throughout outdoor scenes and Wolf’s office, for example,are also elements that hark back to the mid-80s. Still, if you weren’t aroundat the time then all of this will seem new to you and if you have childrenaged 10-15 then it’s worth a rental but it’s not the kind of experience you’dwant to repeat ad infinitum.
Then again, there are equally films-of-the-time I saw from back then, like Can’tBuy Me Love,Ferris Bueller’s Day OffandBack to the Future,which seemed like defining moments because they allowed you to see the freedomon screen that you could never attain in your own life right then, Perhapsthis will also do the same for some.
While it’s a film I can’t slam just because it wasn’t aimed at my age group,what I can take objection to is the incredibly shameful free plugs for theUniversal Studios Tour, during one of which Jason enthuses about how ‘awesome’it is.
That said, there’s still some funny scenes as Kaylee somehow manages to convincethe school bully to look after her grandmother, making him dress up as her andthen seeing him help her work out Rocky-style. I also spotted Jason andKaylee using the ill-fated Cybiko to talk to each other early on. Those unitslooked quite interesting, but the basic functions could be carried out onmobile phones and before Christmas last year they were down from £99.99to £29.99.
More than just a bad hair day.
Presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, the picture looks rather on theblurry side, but I’ll let this slide a little as it seems partly intentional,as if shot on NTSC as part of a TV series, which is largely where directorShawn Levy‘s background lies. The print looks soft in facial close-upswhile landscape shots are reasonably crisp and clear.
The disc contains both a Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 soundtrack, but whilethere’s no problems with it, it’s not exactly the kind of film that benefitsfrom lots of special effects, so even a well-mastered Dolby Surround soundtrackwould be passable.
The extras begin with:
- Spotlight on location:a 12-minute back-slappingfeaturette with comments from the main cast and crew members, mixed in withclips from the film.
- Deleted scenes: These run for 15-minutes innon-anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen and are worth a look for big fans of thefilm.
- Trivia Challenge: This is just a ‘guess the film’ game,relating to the props in the Universal Studios storeroom, the extra helpfullypointing out that “all the movies are available on DVD!”. Get the few questionsright and see a few more outtakes.
- Universal Studios Back Lot: allows you to view clips of the filmwhich show off selected highlights of the tour, such as ‘Flash Flood’ and’Psycho House’.
- Are you a Big Fat Liar?:10 more questions to try to answer the question posed.
- Trailer:2-minutes long and non-anamorphic 1.85:1.
Two Audio Commentaries:One from director Shawn Levy, the other from star Frankie Muniz.Is there really that much to say about this film??
Subtitles for the films come in English, there are 18 chapters for the filmand the menus are static and silent.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.