The Good Liar

[spoilers]

With having the top two Queens of British acting Royalty together on Screen, The Good Liar is a sure fired hit at the winter cinema season.
It's an entertaining movie, for sure.
But it's not a great one.
Ian McKellen plays old con man Roy Courtney, a maverick old charmer with a backbone of steel and malevolence. He meets sweet natured widow Betty McKlish ( Helen Mirren) on an on line dating app and sets about scamming her out of her life savings, but his feelings for her, her doubting and devoted grandson and Betty herself all get in the way of the hustle.
This sounds like a wonderful two hander with both actors going head to head in typical Sleuth style, and don't get me wrong both actors are a joy to watch, especially McKellen , whose personality wavers between larconic charm and icy hardness.
He's truly stunning to watch.
But the trouble with the film is that it is just so unbelievable
Mirren is just too lovely and chic to be believable as an ordinary grandmother, and so when she finally turns the tables on Courtney in the last quarter of the movie , no one is truly surprised.
The why and how the table is finally turned on Roy is galloped through at such a pace that it renders the nice build up of tension in the movie rather redundant and the finale physical fight between McKellen and Mirren remains rather devoid of suspense .
Having said all this , the movie was worth the price of the ticket paid just to see a masterclass in acting from the two old thesps
Oh and Russell Tovey looked mighty fine as the sweet gay grandson !

I adore Tovey's hamster ears .