Big Fat Liar

Big Fat Liar
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Shawn Levy
Screenplay by	Dan Schneider
Story by	Dan Schneider Brian Robbins
Produced by	Brian Robbins Mike Tollin
Starring	Frankie Muniz Paul Giamatti Amanda Bynes Amanda Detmer Donald Faison Lee Majors
Cinematography	Jonathan Brown
Edited by	Stuart Pappé Kimberly Ray
Music by	Christophe Beck
Production company	Tollin/Robbins Productions
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	February 8, 2002 (2002-02-08)
Running time	88 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$15 million
Box office	$53 million

Big Fat Liar is a 2002 American teen comedy film, directed by Shawn Levy, written by Dan Schneider and Brian Robbins, and starring Frankie Muniz, Paul Giamatti, Amanda Bynes, Amanda Detmer, Donald Faison, Lee Majors, Russell Hornsby, and Kenan Thompson.

The film tells a story about a 14-year-old pathological liar, Jason Shepherd (Muniz), whose creative writing assignment is stolen by an arrogant Hollywood producer, Marty Wolf (Giamatti), who later plans to use it to make the fictional film of the same name. The film is an allusion to the Aesop's Fable, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, with Jason Shepherd being analogous to the shepherd boy in the story and Marty Wolf, analogous to the wolf. It was released in the United States on February 8, 2002.

Plot

Jason Shepherd is a 14-year-old compulsive liar. He tries to get out of his creative writing essay by making up a lie but gets caught by his English teacher Phyllis Caldwell, who alerts his parents. He is given three hours to submit his essay, otherwise, he will fail English and go to summer school. Jason writes a story titled 'Big Fat Liar', based on the lies he has told throughout his life. On his way to turn it in, he is struck by the limousine of Hollywood producer Marty Wolf, who gives him a ride. Along the way, Marty reveals that he also tells lies and that, "The truth is overrated." In a rush, Jason accidentally leaves his essay in the limo. Marty is inspired by the story when he reads it and decides to keep it for himself. Jason realizes his essay is missing and explains what happened, but his parents and Caldwell do not believe him, and he is sent to summer school to repeat English.

Later, he and his best friend Kaylee see a preview for a film produced by Wolf Pictures titled Big Fat Liar and recognize that it had been plagarized from Jason's essay. Determined to convince his parents he was being truthful after having lost their trust, Jason and Kaylee fly to Los Angeles to confront Marty while their parents are out of town.

Upon arrival, they trick limo driver and struggling actor Frank Jackson into giving them a ride to the Wolf Pictures studio. Jason sneaks into Marty's office, hoping to convince him to tell his parents what really happened, but Marty burns the essay and has Jason and Kaylee thrown out. Angered, the two decide to inconvenience him until he confesses, with Jackson joining them due to his own troubled history with Marty. After gathering information about Marty's cruel and abusive treatment of his employees, they begin to sabotage him through various pranks, such as dyeing his skin blue and hair orange, super gluing his headset, sending him to a child's birthday party where he is mistaken for the hired clown, and modifying the controls to his car.

These pranks and his car being destroyed by Masher make Marty miss his appointment with his boss, Universal Pictures president Marcus Duncan. After Whitaker and Fowl proves to be a commercial failure, Marcus threatens to pull production for Big Fat Liar. Jason approaches Marty and agrees to help in exchange for his confession. Guided by Jason, Marty makes a successful presentation which gets the film approved, but Marcus warns Marty any mistakes will make Universal pull funding and end his career. Marty goes back on his word and calls security to remove Jason and Kaylee. Marty's assistant Monty Kirkham decides to help Jason and Kaylee expose him, having grown tired of his repeated verbal abuse. They rally all of his employees and devise a plan to finally stop him, while Jason has his parents fly to Los Angeles.

The next morning, as Marty heads to the studio to begin shooting, many of his employees cause him to be late through multiple mishaps. As Marty finally arrives at the studio, he witnesses Jason kidnapping his stuffed monkey toy. After a chase across the studio, Marty catches Jason and retrieves his toy. He mocks Jason and tells him he will never reveal the truth to anyone while admitting that he stole Jason's paper and turned it into a movie. The entire conversation is revealed to have been caught on camera and is witnessed by many people, including Jason's parents and the news media. Disgusted by his plagiarism and dishonesty, Marcus fires Marty. Jason thanks Marty for teaching him the importance of truth-telling, and he regains his parents' trust.

Universal produces Big Fat Liar, utilizing the talents and skills of people whom Marty had abused. It becomes a critical success, with Jason receiving credit for writing the original story, pleasing Jason's parents and Caldwell.

As for Marty, he begins his new job as a birthday clown where the birthday boy is Masher's son much to his dismay . The boy injures Marty’s Testicles

Cast

• Frankie Muniz as Jason Shepherd, a 14-year-old compulsive liar and slacker who – despite his layabout personality – is actually quite intelligent.
• Paul Giamatti as Marty Wolf, an arrogant Hollywood producer who is also the founder of the fictional Marty Wolf Pictures film studio: in contrast to Jason, though, Marty does not care how his lies affect other people.
• Amanda Bynes as Kaylee, Jason's best friend.
• Donald Faison as Frank Jackson, Marty's former limo driver and a struggling actor who helps Jason and Kaylee in their mission to get him back.
• Russell Hornsby as Marcus Duncan, Marty's boss and the new president of Universal Pictures.
• Amanda Detmer as Monty Kirkham, a producer and Marty's long suffering assistant.
• Michael Bryan French as Harry Shepherd, Jason's father.
• Christine Tucci as Carol Shepherd, Jason's mother.
• Alex Breckenridge as Janie Shepherd, Jason's irresponsible older sister.
• Sandra Oh as Ms. Phyllis Caldwell, Jason and Kaylee's English teacher.
• Rebecca Corry as Astrid Barker, the dog-loving receptionist at Marty Wolf Pictures studio.
• Jaleel White as himself, he was the lead in Marty Wolf's film Whitaker and Fowl and was often called Urkel by him.
• Lee Majors as Vince, an aging, but nevertheless qualified, stunt director.
• Sean O'Bryan as Leo, a security guard at Marty Wolf Pictures studio.
• Amy Hill as Jocelyn Davis, the senior vice-president of publicity at Marty Wolf Pictures studio.
• John Cho as Dusty Wong, the director who was subjected to Marty's Confucius sayings.
• Matthew Frauman as Lester Golub, the computer and special effects expert.
• Taran Killam as Bret Callaway, a skateboard punk who consistently bullies Jason. Kaylee tutors him and he has a crush on her.
• Jake Minor as Aaron
• Kyle Swann as Brett, a friend of Bret.
• Sparkle (born Rachel Glusman) as Grandma Pearl, Kaylee's senile grandmother.
• Ted Rooney as Boring Teacher, a teacher who oversees Jason's summer school class.
• Chris Ott as Shandra Duncan, Marcus's wife.
• Brian Turk as The Masher, a wrestler and monster truck driver who Marty crosses when he is rear-ended into his monster truck.
• John Gatins as George, a tow truck driver who teases Marty about his blue skin.
• Don Yesso as Rocko Malone, Marty's security boss.
• Pat O'Brien as himself

Kenan Thompson, Dustin Diamond, the film's director Shawn Levy, Corinne Reilly, and Bart Myer appear as party guests at a party following the premiere of Whitaker and Fowl where they criticize it in their party interviews.

Production

Filming

The film was filmed at Universal Studios Hollywood, the Flash Flood set, and Los Angeles International Airport, as well as in Glendale, Monrovia, Pasadena, and Whittier, California.

The exotic Intermec 6651 Handheld PC appears as the computer used by one of Marty's disgruntled employees to help Jason by releasing a stream of water into Marty's path.

Soundtrack

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Come on Come on"	Smash Mouth	2:33
2.	"Conant Gardens"	Slum Village	3:03
3.	"Me Myself and I"	Jive Jones	3:25
4.	"I Wish"	Hairbrain	3:11
5.	"Eye of the Tiger"	Survivor	4:29
6.	"Hungry Like the Wolf"	Duran Duran	3:41
7.	"Blue (Da Ba Dee)"	Eiffel 65	4:40
8.	"Diablo"	Triple Seven
9.	"Disco Inferno"	The Trammps	10:54
10.	"Party Time"	The Grand Skeem	3:32
11.	"Backlash"	The Grand Skeem
12.	"Where Ya At"	The Grand Skeem
13.	"Mind Blow"	Zion-1
14.	"Right Here Right Now"	Fatboy Slim
15.	"Move It Like This"	Baha Men	3:51

Release

The film was released in cinemas on February 8, 2002 by Universal Pictures and was released on VHS and DVD on September 24, 2002 by Universal Studios Home Entertainment. The DVD release contains an unlockable cheat code for Spyro 2: Season of Flame, that turns Spyro the Dragon blue, as seen in one of Jason’s pranks on Marty.

Reception

Box office

The film grossed $48.4 million in the U.S. and Canada and $4.6 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $53 million, against a budget of $15 million.

The film grossed $11.6 million in its opening weekend, finishing in second at the box office behind Collateral Damage ($15.1 million).

Critical response

Big Fat Liar received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 42% based on 92 reviews with an average rating of 4.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Though there's nothing that offensive about Big Fat Liar, it is filled with Hollywood cliches and cartoonish slapstick, making it strictly for kids." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 36 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.

Some critics praised the film as energetic and witty; others called it dull and formulaic. On the positive side, Ebert and Roeper gave it "Two Thumbs Up". Critic David Palmer gave it a 7/10, stating that it is a fun one for people who love the behind the scenes of making movies, and "not awful considering it's a kids film".

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee	Result	Refs
2002	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie: Chemistry	Amanda Bynes and Frankie Muniz	Nominated
	Young Artist Awards	Best Family Feature Film – Comedy	Big Fat Liar	Nominated
		Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actress	Amanda Bynes	Nominated
2003	Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Movie Actress	Amanda Bynes	Won

Sequel

A sequel of Big Fat Liar began filming in August 2016. The film titled Bigger Fatter Liar starred Ricky Garcia as Kevin Shephard, Jodelle Ferland as Becca, and Barry Bostwick as Larry Wolf. The film was similar to Big Fat Liar except for the plot where the report is stolen by a video game executive to make into a video game to impress his boss. It was released on DVD in April 2017 and was a commercial failure.

External links

• Big Fat Liar at IMDb
• Big Fat Liar at the TCM Movie Database
• Template:Amg title
• Big Fat Liar at Box Office Mojo
• Big Fat Liar at Rotten Tomatoes