Big Fat Liar

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Big Fat Liar
Big Fat Liar film poster
Directed by	Shawn Levy
Produced by	Brian Robbins
Written by	Dan Schneider Brian Robbins
Starring	Frankie Muniz Paul Giamatti Amanda Bynes
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	8 February 2002 (USA)
Running time	88 min.
Language	English
Budget	US$15,000,000
IMDb profile

Big Fat Liar is a 2002 film directed by Shawn Levy.

1 Plot
2 Reaction
3 Characters
4 Trivia
5 Cast
6 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Jason Shepheard, a fourteen year old boy residing in the fictional town of Greenbury, Michigan, was known as a liar by his friends and family. Little did Jason know that this would lead him on one of the biggest adventures of his life when his English teacher Ms. Caldwell assigns her class a creative writing essay. Having not done it, Jason lies by telling a tale that his father choked on one of his mother's Swedish meatballs that he so very loves. He was in the hospital ER all night and was unable to complete the assignment. Skeptical to Jason's story, he tells Ms. Caldwell to call his father's office. Instead, Jason gives the number of 555-0147, Jason's cell phone number. Jason has classmate Kaylee act as Mr. Shepherd's receptionist. Jason, in a raspy voice, tells the Swedish meatball tale, to which Ms. Caldwell tells Jason to take his time with the assignment. The lie comes back to haunt him when his parents are called into school for an after-class meeting to confront Jason's fib. As it turns out, that assignment was worth a third of his semester grade, and without it, would have to retake the course in summer school. However, Ms. Caldwell tells Jason that if he can hand her a handwritten essay at the community college by 6:00, she will consider counting it. After writing a story entitled "Big Fat Liar", Jason has only moments to get to the college, a problem after having been robbed of his skateboard by bully Brett. Jason uses his sister Jamie's old girlie bike as a last resort. Jason had not seen an upcoming crosswalk because he was more concerned about the people teasing him. As a result, he has a collision with a limo. After being confronted by the driver, he asks if he can get a ride to the college. After being denied a ride by Hollywood film producer Marty Wolf, who was riding in the limo, Jason tells Marty that his neck feels stiff, and could sue for whiplash. Marty reluctantly agrees, though as Jason enters the limo, he spills the contents of his backpack. While riding, Jason expresses his dislike for the movies Wolf has produced. Jason exits the limo and thanks the men for the ride. Upon his entering the classroom, he realized that he did not have the essay. Neither his parents nor his teacher believe him. Meanwhile in the limo, Marty begins to read Jason's essay and drives off. After a day at summer school, Jason and Kaylee go to the movies, and to Jason's astonishment, the teaser trailer for a film entitled "Big Fat Liar" debutes. When asked by Kaylee if he wants to see it, he replies, "See it? I think I wrote it."

Jason's parents had left town for a few days, leaving their son with sister Jamie, who leaves shortly with her boyfriend. Jason sees an opportunity to prove his story true: he and Kaylee use Jason's allowance money to fly to Los Angeles. After being denied entry to Wolf's office by his receptionist, Astrid, Jason and Kaylee prank-phone call her, saying her Saturn is parked on a dog. Being a avid dog lover, Astrid leaves her post to attend to the dog. Kaylee fills in Astrid's job while Jason skeaks upstairs to have a little chit-chat with the producer. Wolf returns the essay, but "mistakenly" lights it on fire with a match used to light his cigar. Wolf then tries to put it out with an alcoholic beverage, only to make matters worse. Wolf then calls Rocco Monroe, head of security, and has Jason ejected from the property after refusing to leave. Jason makes it a priority to make Wolf's life miserable, so that he will admit to having stole "BFL". Some of these "pranks" include adding blue-colored dye to his pool so his skin is additionally dyed; replacing his shampoo with orange dye; putting superglue on his cell phone headset; and rigging the controls on Wolf's Jaguar XKR to perform different functions than specified. Jason discovers that all of Wolf's coworkers despise him in some form. They all then devise a plan to keep Marty from making an appointment with Marcus Duncan, the President of the studio. Should Marty not make this meeting, he would be fired and "BFL" would be terminated. Marty eventually admits to stealing Jason's story, thinking he is in confidence with Jason, while under video survelliance. Marty was fired, though "BFL" was still produced, with the cast of everyone that was involved in the plan to fire Wolf. Meanwhile Marty becomes a clown.

[edit] Reaction

The film received mixed reviews, getting a "Rotten" rating at Rotten Tomatoes of 44%. [1] Some critics praised the film for its energy and wit, others wrote of its dullness and formulaic plot. Nevertheless, the film grossed 47 million at the box office.

[edit] Characters

Jason Shephard is habitual liar at first, Jason is a 14-year-old [a running gag in the movie is people thinking he's a different age] who is the main character. He traveled to Los Angeles to get Marty Wolf to tell his dad he wrote "Big Fat Liar".

Marty Wolf is a sleazy Hollywood producer and a skilled liar. He is mean and inconsiderate and this is why all his former employees turned against him, wanting revenge.

Kaylee is Shephard's best friend who is often talked into things by Jason.

Monty Kirkham is Wolf's assistant.

Frank Jackson is a limo driver.

[edit] Trivia

The Universal Studios Hollywood theme park includes a section of their studio tour with the effect of water rushing towards the spectators. This is the same place shown in the scene where Marty Wolf is washed down by the same effect.

The two main characters' last names seem to be taken from Aesop's fable involving The Boy Who Cried Wolf. This is because the boy was a shepherd, who wasn't believed when the real wolf came along to eat the sheep, just as Jason, a persistent liar, wasn't believed when he said Wolf stole his English paper.

When Marty gets out of the blue pool, his Speedos should also be blue, but they aren't.

The pre-production poster is different from the box art, as Marty is blue on the box.

This was Amanda Bynes' first film.

Lee Majors plays an unavenged stuntman in the film; he previously played a stuntman in the television series The Fall Guy.

Filmed on some of the sets from Sliders. [2]

When Marty Wolf was jumping into his now-dyed pool, he turns blue right before he hits the water.

This movie was edited for TV, including editing out words like "Saturn", "Coke", "crap", "hell", "Twinkies", "up yours", and pixellating name brand vodkas in Wolf's office.

Toward the end of the movie, Marty has his normal skin color back, saying that he was up all night with turpentine and a scrub brush. However, we see him earlier in the morning picking out an outfit, a scene in which he was still blue.

This movie also features Duran Durans hit 1982 song, Hungry Like the Wolf at the pool scene.

While Jason And Kaylee get on The Studio Tour tram to get to Marty's office you can hear the Jurassic Park Theme music.

In the room with all the movie props where Jason And Kaylee go you can see a JP velociraptor and the Grinch from the film How The Grinch Stole Christmas there is his costume.

The set that Jason and Kaylee walk through while on the studio lot is the set used for The Scorpion King. Memnon's statue can be seen in the background at one point.