Big Fat Liar

Template:Short description Template:For Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox film Big Fat Liar is a 2002 American teen comedy film directed by Shawn Levy, and written by Dan Schneider from a story by Schneider and Brian Robbins. It stars Frankie Muniz, Paul Giamatti and Amanda Bynes, with a supporting cast featuring Amanda Detmer, Donald Faison, Lee Majors and Russell Hornsby.

The plot, alluding to Aesop's Fable The Boy Who Cried Wolf,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> follows a 14-year-old boy (Muniz) whose creative writing assignment "Big Fat Liar" is stolen by an arrogant Hollywood producer (Giamatti) who plans to use it to make the fictional film of the same name. It was released in the United States on February 8, 2002, to commercial success but mixed to unfavorable critical reviews. It was followed by a 2017 standalone direct-to-DVD critically panned sequel.

Plot

Jason Shepherd is a 14-year-old compulsive liar living in the town of Greenbury, Michigan, who tries to lie his way out of a creative writing assignment. He gets caught by his English teacher, who alerts his parents. He is given 3 hours to submit his essay, or he will have to repeat English in summer school.

At first, Jason struggles to come up with inspiration for his essay. But after remembering an earlier comment from his father about making up stories being his “God-given talent”, he writes a story titled “Big Fat Liar”, drawing inspiration from his lying. While riding his sister's old bike to turn in the essay, Jason is accidentally struck by the limousine of Marty Wolf, an arrogant, unscrupulous Hollywood producer, whom Jason blackmails into giving him a ride.

Marty, also a compulsive liar, is shooting his film Whitaker and Fowl in town. In a rush, Jason accidentally leaves his essay in the limo when it falls out of his backpack. Inspired, Marty keeps the story for himself. Realizing his essay is missing, Jason tries to explain what happened but gets sent to summer school after his parents and Ms. Caldwell didn't believe Jason.

Jason and his friend Kaylee discover Marty has plagiarized Jason's essay into a film when they see a teaser trailer. After failing to convince Jason’s parents (who still don't believe their son), they fly to Los Angeles while their parents are out of town for the weekend and sneak into Marty's studio office to demand that Marty confess to his parents, but he purposefully burns Jason's essay and calls security to remove them rather than calling Jason's parents about the theft.

Angered, the teens plot to inconvenience Marty until he confesses. Marty's former limo driver and struggling actor Frank Jackson agrees to help. Jason and Kaylee sabotage Marty through pranks such as dyeing his skin blue via his swimming pool and his hair orange via his shampoo. They also superglue his headset to his ear, trick him into going to a child's birthday party, where the children mistake him for the hired clown and attack him, and tamper with his car's controls, which causes it to malfunction. Marty's car is also rear-ended by a cranky elderly woman into a monster truck owned by a wrestler, the Masher, who destroys it.

These pranks cause Marty to miss both of his appointments with Universal Pictures president Marcus Duncan. He has plans to produce Big Fat Liar with Universal, but Marcus, seeing the commercial and critical failure of Whitaker and Fowl, refuses to approve the budget, so Jason agrees to help Marty in exchange for his confession to his parents and Marty promises.

With Jason's advice, Marty makes a successful presentation and gets the film approved by Universal, but Marcus warns Marty that any more problems will result in Universal pulling the plug and ending his career. Marty subsequently betrays Jason by breaking his promise and calls security to remove him and Kaylee again rather than confessing to Jason's parents.

Marty's abused assistant Monty Kirkham offers to help Jason and Kaylee expose him after finally having enough of Marty's abuse. They rally Marty's other tormented employees, while Jason calls his parents to tell them the truth about the weekend.

The next morning, Marty heads to the studio to begin filming Big Fat Liar, but his employees delay him through many mishaps. As he finally arrives, he encounters Jason, who steals his stuffed monkey toy, Mr. Funnybones. Jason flees across the studio, luring Marty to a rooftop where he retrieves his toy and mocks Jason.

Marty boastfully admits his actions, unaware that the entire conversation is being broadcast to Jason's parents, the media, and Marcus, who immediately fires him after being disgusted of Marty's dishonesty and actions. Jason thanks Marty for teaching him an important lesson about the truth. Marty furiously tries to attack Jason for permanently ruining his reputation, but the latter leaps off the building and safely lands on a stunt cushion, where he finally regains his parents' trust after Jason's parents discover that Jason did all of this to prove he was telling the truth.

Universal produces Big Fat Liar after Marty's firing, using the talents of those he mistreated and Frank Jackson as the lead character of the movie after regaining his job as an actor and being rehired by Marcus. The film is a success, earning Jason full credit for his story as Jason's parents and Ms. Caldwell are proud of him. Meanwhile, Marty, now a bankrupt birthday clown, unknowingly performs at the Masher's house. Upon recognizing him, the Masher encourages his son Darren to kick Marty in the crotch. So he eagerly does, drop-kicking Marty with full force, leaving him frozen in horror before crumpling in agony.

Cast

Kenan Thompson, Dustin Diamond and the film's director Shawn Levy appear as guests at the after party of the premiere of Wolf's action comedy Whitaker and Fowl, which they criticise. Jaleel White also appears uncredited as himself, starring as Officer Fowl in Whitaker and Fowl. White is annoyed that Wolf often calls him "Urkel".

Production

Screenwriter John Hamburg provided rewrites during production, but final writing credits were awarded to Dan Schneider (screenplay/story) and producer Brian Robbins (story only).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Filming

Big Fat Liar was filmed from March to June 2001. The film was filmed at Universal Studios Hollywood (with sets from the film The Scorpion King visible in some scenes) and its Flash Flood set, and Los Angeles International Airport, as well as in Glendale, Monrovia, Pasadena, and Whittier, California.Template:Citation needed

The exotic Intermec 6651 Handheld PC appears as the computer used by Lester Golub to help Jason by releasing a stream of water into Marty's path.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack was released by Mercury Records in 2002. Template:Track listing

Release

The film was released in cinemas on February 8, 2002, by Universal Pictures and was released on VHS and DVD in Full Screen format in Region 1 while in region 2 was released in Widescreen on September 24, 2002, by Universal Studios Home Entertainment. The DVD release contains an unlockable cheat code for Spyro 2: Season of Flame that turns Spyro the Dragon blue, as seen in one of Jason's pranks on Marty. It was released on Blu-ray in Widescreen format for the first time in Region 1 on March 4, 2014.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Reception

Box office

The film grossed $48.4 million in the United States and Canada and $4.6 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $53 million, against a budget of $15 million.<ref name="BOM" />

The film grossed $11.6 million in its opening weekend, finishing in second at the box office behind Collateral Damage ($15.1 million).<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, Big Fat Liar has an approval rating of 45% based on 93 reviews, with an average rating of 5/10. The site's critical consensus read, "Though there's nothing that offensive about Big Fat Liar, it is filled with Hollywood cliches and cartoonish slapstick, making it strictly for kids."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score 36 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Some critics called the film energetic and witty, but others called it dull and formulaic. Ebert and Roeper gave it "Two Thumbs Up".Template:Citation needed In his review for the Chicago Sun-Times, Ebert gave it 3 out of 4, and called it "A surprisingly entertaining movie [...] ideal for younger kids, and not painful for their parents."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post called the film "an innocent comedic revenge fantasy that somehow manages to be sweet and wickedly satisfying at the same time."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Nominee	Result	Template:Ref heading
2002	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie: Chemistry	Frankie Muniz and Amanda Bynes	Template:Nom	{{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
	Young Artist Awards	Best Family Feature Film – Comedy	Big Fat Liar	Template:Nom	{{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
		Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actress	Amanda Bynes	Template:Nom	{{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
2003	Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Movie Actress	Amanda Bynes	Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}

Sequel

In August 2016, it was announced that a standalone sequel had begun principal photography.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Bigger Fatter Liar starred Ricky Garcia as Kevin Shepherd, Jodelle Ferland as Becca, Fiona Vroom as Penny, Kevin O'Grady as Ivan, Karen Holness as Miss Walker, and Barry Bostwick as Larry Wolf. The plot, though unrelated to the first film, was similar in many ways to Big Fat Liar. Released directly to DVD in April 2017, the film was met with critical and commercial failure.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> It was later released on Blu-ray in July 2018.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Potential future

In March 2022, Shawn Levy revealed that he has always wanted to make a direct-sequel to Big Fat Liar, stating that the plot would include a Marty Wolf revenge story. The filmmaker referenced the revitalized Real Steel franchise in the form of the upcoming television series, as hope for a future Big Fat Liar sequel to be made.<ref name="BFL3_CB">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See also

• List of films featuring fictional films

External links

• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 0265298

 | title/{{#if: {{#invoke:ustring|match|1=0265298|2=^tt}}
   | Template:Trim/
   | tt0265298/
   }}
 | {{#if: {{#property:P345|from=}}
   | title/Template:First word/
   | find?q=%5B%5B%3ATemplate%3APAGENAMEBASE%5D%5D&s=tt
   }}
 }}{{#ifeq: {{#invoke:If any equal|main|Q618779|Q67325957|Q33999|value=Template:Wikidata}} | yes 
     | {{#switch: Template:Wikidata 
       | Q618779 
       | Q67325957  = awards Awards for
       | Q33999  = fullcredits Full cast and crew of
       }}
   | {{#if: Template:Wikidata 
     | {{#switch: Template:Wikidata
       | Q63032896 
       | Q66763446  = fullcredits Full cast and crew of
       | Q107974527 
       | Q482994  = soundtrack Soundtrack of
       }}
     }}
   }} Template:Trim] at {{#if: | IMDb | IMDb }}Template:EditAtWikidata{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:IMDb title with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|showblankpositional=1| 1 | 2 | 3 | description | id | link_hide | qid | quotes | title }}{{#switch: {{#invoke:String2|matchAny|^tt.........|^tt.......|tt|.........|source=0265298|plain=false}}| 1 | 3 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning| 4 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning}}{{#if: 0265298 {{#property:P345}} || Template:Preview warningTemplate:Main other }}{{#switch: Template:Wikidata 

| Q21191270 | Q21664088 | Q50062923 | Q50914552 | Q99079902 | Q123186929 | Q55422400 | Q61220733 =Template:Preview warning | Q3464665 =Template:Preview warning }}{{#ifeq: Template:Wikidata | Q21191270 |Template:Preview warning }}{{#if: 0265298 | Template:WikidataCheck }}

• Template:TCMDb title