The Mediocre Liar

The Good Liar seemed like an intriguing movie to me, in principle: a story about a con man, clearly promising deceptions and twists. Two great actors in the lead roles, in Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen -- both of whom seemed to be bringing their gravitas to this movie... but both with a history of making some fun films that hinted at the fun this could be too.

McKellen plays Roy Courtnay, a career con artist who has spent his life scamming money from stupid marks. He's found one in Mirren's character, a widow named Betty McLeish. She's looking for romance again; he's looking for the hefty nest egg her late husband has left behind. But Betty's suspicious grandson Steven (Russell Tovey) smells something rotten. Can Roy close the deal before he's exposed?

I might caution that if you haven't seen the trailers for The Good Liar, you'd best avoid them -- they give away too much. Then again, I actually think this movie isn't nearly as clever as it thinks it is. It conditions you early to look everywhere for clues, and doesn't do an especially good job at hiding them. Trailers or no, you're likely to figure out the surprises the movie has planned for you, in at least a general sense even if the specifics escape you.

Unfortunately, the movie doesn't have too much to offer beyond its intended surprises. There is a sort of fun (in moments) to watching a master manipulator ply a scheme, or backtracking on lies and replacing them with new lies. But it always comes back to this: the characters in the film are more deceived than the audience.

This is not the sort of movie that generally features older actors, though, and that does lend some novelty to it. The closest thing that comes to mind might to be to call this a Dirty Rotten Scoundrels without the comedy, but even then, Steve Martin and Michael Caine were in their mid-40s and mid-50s, respectively, when they made that film. Mirren and McKellen are a generation older, and that makes a difference in how the audience responds to both victim and perpetrator.

McKellen's performance has its charms here and there. It's a fun role for him, and one can see why he took it. Mirren's role is less compelling for the bulk of the film, though. Great an actress as she is, she really only gets a few moments to shine; perhaps she took this role simply to share the screen with McKellen more than for a love of the character?

Average is really the best word to describe The Good Liar. (Unless you'd accept "meh" as a word.) I grade it a C. It would be a bit harsh to call it a bad movie, but there are better con artist movies, and far better movies starring these two formidable actors.