The Good Liar Is A Subpar Hitchcock Knock-Off (SPOILERS)

Isn't internet dating a pain? The Good Liar makes the awkwardness of such experiences clear without even getting into the modern-day pitfalls of Catfishing or specific peculiar personalities you could only find on Grindr. But even if internet dating isn't perfect, it did at least bring Betty McLeish (Helen Mirren) and Roy Courtnay (Ian McKellen) together. The two of them bond over a shared sense of humor and them being widows. Sure, McLeish's grandson may not like Roy all that much, but it doesn't matter, the two of them share a connection. Unbeknownst to Betty McLeish, though, Roy is not who he seems. He's a scammer looking to take her for every penny she has and this cutthroat dude is willing to do whatever it takes for hefty sums of cash.


A common refrain you hear from people who don't like to watch older movies is that they're "too slow", a notion I personally find preposterous, yet it certainly tragically festers in the public consciousness. It's a thought I was reminded of during The Good Liar, though it'd be more accurate to say I was reminded of the polar opposite of the whole "old movies are slow" school of thought. The Good Liar is a movie clearly trying to channel classic Alfred Hitchock movies, yet trying to channel that filmmakers' work doesn't do The Good Liar any favors. I was constantly thinking to myself how much faster and more entertaining older titles like Rebecca or Dial M for Murder were compared to The Good Liar.

Unlike this new Bill Condon directorial effort, those older titles didn't stuff their scripts full of extended conversations about banking jargon shot in visually flat manners. Thrillers should keep you on the edge of your seat, not threaten to send you nodding off. Unfortunately, The Good Liar just doesn't work well as an exciting thriller despite all the talent it has at its disposal. To explore why The Good Liar doesn't really work, I'm afraid I have to delve into spoilers. This movies already been out for three weekends and seems to be fading quick from the box office, so I feel way less guilty about engaging in spoiler territory here than I would for, say, a new Marvel Studios title. I'll put up a little spoiler barrier here in case you wanna enter The Good Liar untainted:

SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS

CW: Discussions ofs sexual assault ahead

I've made it clear in the past that I'm terrible at guessing twists or seeing twists coming, so if I manage to predict what a movie's big twist is, something's gone awry here. So is the case for The Good Liar, where about a third into the running time I guessed the big twist would be that Roy Courtnay isn't just a thief, he's a Nazi. The Good Liar keeps making cutesy references to Nazi's and Berlin, Germany, including Roy and Betty seeing Inglorious Basterds for a date, that set things up too blatantly that Nazi's are going to end up playing a role in the proceedings. It's irritating that The Good Liar can't even come up with a delightful twist, especially since the rest of the film isn't nearly entertaining to compensate for the predictability of the proceedings.

More frustrating in Jeffrey Hatcher's screenplay is the eventual reveal of who Betty actually is. This development uses one of my least favorite narrative tricks in mystery thrillers where a big revelation doesn't build upon previously established elements but is rather just a barrage of brand-new information. It always feels like such a cheat and that's the case for The Good Liar, which has to resort to enough flashbacks to fill up a whole other movie in order to make it clear why Betty A.K.A. Lilly has a grudge to pick with Roy. Turns out, Roy wasn't just a Nazi, he also sexually assaulted Lilly when she was a child and then, as a gruesome cherry on top, turned her Father into the government for not being pro-Nazi.

This avalanche of character motivation is just dumped onto the audience out of nowhere and feels bafflingly disconnected from the rest of the movie. Instead of making previously disparate pieces suddenly fit together, the biggest twist in The Good Liar just makes things an even bigger jumbled mess. Worst of all, this big revelation from Helen Mirren's character doesn't make the movie any more interesting to watch. As said earlier regarding predictability, clumsy storytelling moves can be forgiven if it at least results in twists and turns that are engaging to watch. But The Good Liar just never fully clicks as a thriller, especially since the rest of its story is as poorly-executed as its big "Gotcha!" twist. The biggest crime the script commits is making Lilly such a muted person for the vast majority of the narrative, thus ensuring that Helen Mirren can only rarely bring her spry and delightful screen presence to the proceedings. Even a legend like Mirren can only do so much with a thriller as half-baked as The Good Liar.