Big Fat Liar

Broad comedy, minimized violence, recognizable stars - drop the kids off at the matinee and you're in good shape.

If you go along with them, you can play spot the movie connection. Half the movie is set at Universal Studios Los Angeles. Aside from the obvious (character walking past the Norman Bates House, etc.), the producers left dozens of props from other movies lying around. (I already submitted the cars from "Back to the Future" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas".) It's almost like the movie is one big plug for the Universal Studios tour.

Speaking of plugs: Note the obvious ones for Coca-Cola and the E.T. re-release.

Parental Guidance note: Please be sure to explain to your kids that a) Hollywood is not a nice place to run away to, and b) they shouldn't expect to get hugs and encouragement after they run away.

Jason Shepherd(Frankie Muniz) is known for always lying to keep himself out of trouble. When he doesn't complete his big english assignment, his teacher says that he has three hours to complete it or he will fail and go to summer school. Jason has a great imagination and he writes a story that's tilted "Big Fat Liar". On the way to hand in his assignment, he gets a ride from a famous hollywood producer Marty Wolf(Paul Giamatti) but unfortunately he forgets his english assignment. in the car, fails and has to go to summer school. He tries to convince his parent and teacher what really happened to his assignment but nobody believes him. A few months after, there is a big blockbuster hit coming out tilted "Big Fat Liar" that's supposedly been written and produced by Marty Wolf. Jason notices that the movie is based on his english paper and that Marty Wolf has stolen his story. Now along with his cute friend Kaylee(Amanda Bynes) Jason will travel to Los Angeles and try to convince everybody what a big fat liar Marty Wolf is. I thought this was a harmless fun little movie. It's nothing special but it has a couple of jokes and it's pretty entertaining. It's more for the younger audience but I still found it to be somewhat enjoyable. I would give Big Fat Liar 6/10

My daughter and I both enjoyed the movie, as did everyone else in the theater. I'm not sure whether the message was that lying is good or lying is bad. The movie never seemed to make up its mind, but Amanda Bynes is to die for and there's a few good laughs.

Big Fat Liar is the type of movie I would've liked even more if I was younger and by that I reccomend this movie to the kids and if the parents don't want to go see Collateral Damage or Black Hawk Down or whatever, they might chuckel as well.

Frankie Muniz plays a young teen who is usually lying a lot, and when he really looses a paper for school in a movie producer's (Paul Giamatti's) limo and winds up in summer school, he decides to go with his girlfriend (Amanda Bynes) to Hollywood to confront him. But it isn't as easy as he thought for him to fess up. Giamatti's blue man scenes are some of the funniest scenes he's had in movies since Private Parts. Other scenes vary on the person, however. Grade: B

Saw this at the theatre with my 7 yr old at the time. I thought it was well written, and the acting from a then slightly unknown Franky Muniz, and a slightly unknown Paul Giamatti, helped make this flick enjoyable. If you haven't seen Big Fat Lier, check it out! Great cameos by Lee Majors, highly recommended.