A take on the classic tale 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf', 'Big Fat Liar' is about a 14-year-old boy named Jason Shephard (Frankie Muniz) who lies for the fun of it. Jason loses an important story assignment entitled 'Big Fat Liar' in movie producer Marty Wolf's (Paul Giamatti) limo, which Wolf then turns into a film. When Jason sees a movie preview of his story, he and best friend Kaylee (Amanda Bynes) go to Los Angeles to make Wolf confess to using Jason's story as well as to clear Jason's name and to get him out of having to attend summer school. The teen liar then has to match wits with Wolf, who also turns out to be a big liar.
Now for The Zone's Eye View
By Laura Alber
Big Fat Loser would be more like it. Nothing like watching an hour and a half billboard for Universal Studios' back lots. It was also disappointing to see Frankie Muniz not able to have the same kind of hilarious writing to work with, as he does in "Malcolm in the Middle". Muniz and co-star Amanda Bynes do their best at keeping this dud of a film humorous. The duo are quite a captivating team and thankfully the writers took into account their ages and kept them "strictly friends". Paul Giamatti (Duets, Big Momma's House) adds a much welcomed helping of laughs as well to this poorly written script.
"Big Fat Liar" is about a teenage boy Jason (Muniz) who is famous in both school and home for his lying abilities. The beginning is filled with several clichéd teenage lies; why homework didn't get turned in; telling the parents the homework was finished the night before, blah, blah, blah. Then Jason is forced to produce a paper that was due by the end of the day. He sits down to write it, and decides to write about what he knows best, "lying". He titles the paper "Big Fat Liar". Racing off on his sisters pink bicycle, he gets hit by a limousine with none other than Marty Wolf (Giamatti) a self-proclaimed BIG Hollywood producer. Unimpressed, Jason just insists on a ride to the school to turn in his essay. Upon leaving the vehicle, Jason drops his "Big Fat Liar" assignment and Marty
Wolf drives off. As he sees it on the floor, Wolf begins reading it, and it suddenly is being announced everywhere as the "Biggest Movie of the Year"…coming soon.
Since he had no assignment to turn in, Jason is forced to attend summer school. Fuming about nobody believing that he actually did his assignment, he sets off on a mission to Hollywood to track down Marty Wolf and get his story back. He recruits the help of his friend Kaylee (Amanda Bynes). Once Marty Wolf makes it clear that he has no intention of helping Jason, the two teens begin their "plan of attack". The rest of the film is a series of pranks, practical jokes, and humiliating producer Marty Wolf.
The reason this seems like a big Universal advertisement is because most of the film is set on the back lots of the studio. That's where their operation base is set up and every conceivable aspect of the studio is shown at some point. This is a very bleak and unimpressive film, but I'm guessing children under 13 will still manage to find it funny. Big Fat Liar even attempts to pull you in with some unexpected cameos by Lee Majors and "Urkel" Jaleel White. Nothing succeeded in making this any easier to sit through. The Zone rates Big Fat Liar a 3 out of 10. Just a little too much "boy who cried wolf" in this film for me.
