The film Good Liar opens with a meeting of two seniors in a cafe after a brief contact through an online dating agency. Roy (Ian McKellen) who at the first meeting with Betty (Helen Mirren) claimed to dislike lies, turned out to be an accomplished con artist in the financial field. And it seems he got a soft and fat prey this time. Best Movie Site
Betty, Roy was unexpectedly a wealthy widow and seemed innocent enough to be deceived. Assisted by his crony, Roy plans a trap with a large bait to squeeze Betty down to his sari-sari, and apparently the only obstacle is Steven (Russel Tovey) the grandson who seems suspicious of him.
Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren greatly enlivened their character in this film. If you are like me who remembers Mckellen as Gandalf, then you will be surprised how well he plays Roy’s brutal character here. Plus Mirren, the film is very good to be enjoyed regardless of other aspects of the film.
Scriptwriter Jeffrey Hatcher successfully presents a plot and storyline that is not boring even though there is minimal action from an old premise: fraudsters and victims. Plots that are layered and unpredictable make this film not boring even though the story is built rather slowly in the beginning.
Director Bill Condon who has worked closely with Jeffrey Hatcher at Mr. Holmes successfully displayed an interesting visualization for every major part of the plot. Randomly the audience will be brought to the time when the Nazis were still in power, shortly after the collapse, and the current state of Berlin. Giving a unique color in each era managed to create an original feel for the audience. Movie Review
After ⅔ a very interesting and enjoyable film, unfortunately the climax of this film feels a bit odd and is too sweet for a thriller. Making The Good Liar feel more like a type of film “feels good” like Wonder (2017). What’s more many parts of the background of the two main characters are not told. If the parts are told of course the film will be longer and might be boring, but will give different depth and more understanding for the audience to understand the characters and the choices made by these two characters.
On the other hand, this strange and unsatisfied feeling raises the desire to read the original novel as a comparison. This alone made the film The Good Liar a success as a marketing vehicle for the original novel by Nicholas Searle.
Summary The duet of actors Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren are exceptional enough to make this film very fun to enjoy. The lack of climax only makes us hope that more films will be made with this actor duet than leaving disappointment after watching this film. Top Movie