the good liar movie review - Aussieboyreviews
WILL AUDIENCES BE THRILLED BY THE CRIME STORY IN THE GOOD LIAR?
There’s no doubt that viewers will be surprised and thrilled by this crime movie’s plot twists, violence and crime. Starring Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen, The Good Liar feels underrated and entertaining.
Storyline
Roy Courtnay, a greedy con man, begins to target Betty McLeish, a recently widowed woman who he could earn millions off. But this time around, his simple job transforms into a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse.
Movie Images
Movie details
Director: Bill Condon
Cast: Ian McKellen, Helen Mirren, Russell Tovey, Jim Carter, Mark Lewis Jones
Writer: Jeffrey Hatcher
Release Date (Australia): 5 December 2019
Runtime: 109 minutes/1h 49m
Genre: Crime, Thriller, Mystery
Country: UK, USA
Language: English, German, Russian
CONTENT GUIDE (WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)
The film contains themes of fraud, betrayal, revenge, crime and depictions of sexual assault.
The film features scenes including a man’s face being shot with graphic injury detail and a man being stabbed. There is a scene briefly depicting a teenage girl being raped.
The film contains use of the words “c**t”, “f**k”, “s**t” and “bloody”.
None.
The film contains a scene in which women’s buttocks and breasts are briefly viewed in a strip club.
The film contains references to prostitution and a brief scene of sexualised violence in the form of a teenage girl being raped.
mpaa rating
R (for some strong violence, and for language and brief nudity)
Aussie boy's thoughts
Bill Condon’s unexpectedly entertaining crime-thriller turns out to be a well-crafted tale of an Ian McKellen con man trying to scam a Helen Mirren widow, concluding in one of the greatest plot twists of all time. This excellent London-set fraud movie is unpredictably underrated, containing a perfect touch of each of con work, mystery, romance, drama and thrills.
Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen, as always, execute very interesting characters; McKellen being a con man and Mirren being a vulnerable widow as his next target. It’s hard to say this movie strongly connects you with the characters and leaves you rooting for them, but the story will do that. The Good Liar may look exactly like your very average and satisfactory crime-mystery saved by its cast, but the plot is actually quite entertaining, pacy and easy to follow along with.
It just makes you sit there for 109 minutes attempting to predict what Roy has up his sleeve, but also wondering if justice will be served or how his relationship with Betty will go. Even if it’s not that interesting or engaging, the shockingly unexpected and surprising plot twist revealed in the final section of the movie, involving numerous flashbacks and shocking thoughts, totally makes up for it.
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