Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.0

Big Fat Liar Blu-ray Movie Review

A muzzle for Giamatti.

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf March 14, 2014

The manic energy of “Big Fat Liar” is almost too much to handle. Aimed toward the attention spans of 8-year-olds, with agonizing screenwriting simplicity to boot, the picture is a dizzying display of slapstick comedy with an industry insider lean, taking on the immoral cesspool of Hollywood with a pronounced Nickelodeon tone of pre-teen mischief. Marking Shawn Levy’s big studio debut as a director, “Big Fat Liar” plays as broadly and obviously as possible, missing necessary laughs that could make it all palatable. Instead of considered humor, there’s Paul Giamatti, who pops a lung with his bellowing performance here, leaving no scene unchewed. It’s an aggressive, obnoxious turn from an actor addicted to harmful decibel levels, slamming the otherwise witless endeavor with his wall of noise. It’s a feature best viewed on mute. Or not at all.

An average 14-year-old living in Michigan, Jason (Frankie Muniz) has a problem with lying. Struggling to focus on school, Jason often relies on pal Kaylee (Amanda Bynes) for assistance, but his antics have finally caught up with him, assigned to complete a paper before the day is out or risk being sent to summer school. Drawing from his experiences, Jason bangs out “Big Fat Liar,” madly dashing back to school to deliver the goods. Smashing into film producer Marty Wolf’s limo on his bike, Jason accidentally leaves his story in the car, allowing the devious moviemaker an opportunity to steal the premise. Months later, Jason discovers that Wolf is about to put “Big Fat Liar” into production, persuading Kaylee to join him on a trip to Hollywood to convince Wolf to help clear up all trust issues with his parents. The producer declines, forcing the kids to infiltrate Universal Studios and hash out a plan of revenge, with help from Wolf’s enemies, including his assistant Monty (Amanda Detmer) and failed actor Frank (Donald Faison).

Levy has never been one for subtlety, yet with “Big Fat Liar,” there’s no sense of timing either. The first in a line of dubious family comedies from the helmer (including “Cheaper by the Dozen,” “The Pink Panther,” and “Night at the Museum”), “Big Fat Liar” takes a passable premise and cranks the volume up to 11, using a basic cable approach to feature-length filmmaking, seemingly unaware that such unbridled energy is corrosive to attention spans. The screenplay by Dan Schneider arranges a straightforward design of revenge, with a bad kid trying to get his act together, thwarted by a vile producer who stomps and screams his way through every waking moment of the day. He’s the Hanna-Barbera version of Buddy Ackerman, treated as pure evil in a picture that could use a little less obviousness. Levy accepts the challenge of characterization armed with a box of crayons, transforming Wolf into an unbearable screen villain, far too easy to condemn, making Jason’s journey less about awakening consciousness after losing the trust of his parents to his web of lies and more about punishment, setting up shop in the Universal prop department to plan out ways to bring the pain.

This playground level of conflict might be tolerable for television, but as a movie, “Big Fat Liar” runs out of steam quickly. This forces Levy to amplify instead of identify, glazing the picture with madcap pranks that bring out the worst in Wolf. A major set-piece dips the producer in blue dye, colors his hair red, and glues an earpiece to his head, forcing the character to avoid critical appointments for the day as his personal appearance is temporarily ruined. Jason and Kaylee also mess with his car, steal his PDA, and redirect his meetings. It’s all good fun, but there’s a limit to the nonsense and Levy doesn’t recognize it, reaching a point of sabotage where it’s not exactly clear why the kids don’t just shoot Wolf and be done with it. After all, he’s an irredeemable bastard, with Schneider’s script refusing to include even a second of basic human behavior, content to keep Wolf a one-note baddie. Giamatti, ever the professional, takes the opportunity to scream his way through an entire performance, mugging for the camera like a lunatic. It’s exhausting to watch him go full ham. Hard on the ears too.

There are intermittent pleasures in “Big Fat Liar,” including a snapshot of Universal Studios in the early 2000s, with its employee-guided tram tours and embellished backlot shenanigans, including a prop room music montage to keep the candied tone of the picture sufficiently sugared. Bynes and Muniz are passable as the teen heroes, keeping spirits up as they battle with Giamatti’s howling. There’s also a supporting turn from future “Saturday Night Live” star Taran Killam as Jason’s skateboard-stealing bully, provided the film with some needed dumb guy humor. And for those who enjoy such celebrity spottings, “Big Fat Liar” offers cameos from Dustin Diamond, John Cho, Pat O’Brien, Kenan Thompson, and Levy himself.

Big Fat Liar Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.85:1 aspect ratio) presentation shows a little more life than the average Universal catalog title, but filtering remains, restraining the viewing experience with a light scrubbing of grain, haloing, and some mild motion blur. Fine detail isn't spectacular, but facial textures are accessible and backlot locations offer decoration to survey. Black levels aren't challenged in this bright feature, leaving costuming and depth open for inspection, with the lone evening event also free of crippling crush issues. Skintones are stable and natural. Colors run a tad hot, emphasizing the cartoon nature of the film, with harsh reds for clown encounters, while blues are quite vivid, selling Wolf's pool dye transformation with accuracy.

Big Fat Liar Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA sound mix kicks off with a minor amount of chaos, finding the opening soundtrack selection smothering the onscreen action. It's the only area of concern, with the rest of the track offering only a basic blend of slapstick and drama with frontal placement. Dialogue exchanges are clean and direct, managing screaming levels with comfort, never hitting any troubling highs. Scoring is bland but communicative, offering a distinct musical shape without any memorable themes, pushing out into the surrounds on occasion. Circular activity is minimal, only triggered with a few atmospheric changes and large scale action. Low-end is sparse, good with bass-heavy tunes and backlot destruction.

Big Fat Liar Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary #1 with director Shawn Levy and cinematographer Jonathan Brown is a surprisingly technical chat with the filmmakers. Levy's exuberance is the star of the show here, ticking off location memories, production challenges, and visual intent with noticeable speed, while Brown provides support, pointing out camera and lighting accomplishments. Levy is immensely proud of the picture, making an honest assessment of its actual achievements a pipe dream, but for fans of the effort, the commentary delivers pretty much everything there is to know about "Big Fat Liar."

• Commentary #2 with actor Frankie Muniz crashes after takeoff, with the star leaving huge gaps of silence between banal anecdotes, failing to provide a reason why anyone outside of Muniz completeists should sit through more than 10 minutes of this dull track.

• "Spotlight on Location" (11:59, SD) is a standard making-of piece created for cable broadcast and EPK usage, highlighting the plot and performances of "Big Fat Liar" without ever digging too deeply into the particulars of production. Interviews with cast and crew are expectedly fawning, absent true insight into the creative process. It's promotional fluff with a dusting of BTS footage, nothing more.

• Deleted Scenes (14:41, SD) provide substantial chunks of the movie, all pertaining to the world of Marty Wolf and his interactions with others. We see the producer trying to smooth things out with Jaleel White and a studio head on a film set, mingle with partygoers at his house, and face the humiliation of being kicked off the Universal lot. Most interestingly, there's a brief scene where Wolf explains his bizarre relationship with toy monkey Mr. Funny Bones -- a plot point that should've remained in the picture.

• Outtakes (:47, SD) supply an absurdly brief look at on-set mix-em-ups featuring the cast, with nothing in particular popping out as funny.

• And a Theatrical Trailer (2:01, SD) has been included.

Big Fat Liar Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Big Fat Liar" is aggressive entertainment, but not in a motivated, freewheeling manner that encourages audience participation. It's surprisingly off-putting, with mangled characterizations and a commitment to shrill acts of comeuppance, trusting sheer noise will be enough to charm. Sadly, such exaggeration doesn't inspire laughs, just cringes.