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 .

27 comments:

  1. I went to see it today. Whilst it was gripping, in that of course I wanted to know what happened, I didn't think it was very good. Neither of them put any sparky humour into the situation, particularly at the beginning, both too clever perhaps, amazingly lacking in something. I thought the story in the end unconvincing and they made the whole thing cumbersome and dull.

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    1. Unconvincing was my overall take on it
      If you don't believe....the film is no good

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  2. Personally,as a life long cinema fan, and a big fan of these 2 brilliant actors, I will see it .. I would rather be bored by Helen Mirren and Ian Mclellan than most of the cr*p in theaters right now .

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    1. Completely agree! It opens here next Friday and I am looking forward to it.

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    2. It definitely isn't boring, I can assure you of that.

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  3. Price of a ticket? Why haven't you purchased a subscription?

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    Replies
    1. I'm a mad bitch that's why

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    2. The Daily Post needs some new talent so you could do worse than spam them your "reviews". They've got to be more entertaining than the shit that our home rag spews out.

      I was in Sainsburys today but my admirer failed to throw herself upon me.

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    3. Della from the Deli 😂 She's going to be mightily disappointed since all I want is Ecclefechan.

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  4. Helen Mirren served me tea once. Claim to fame.

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  5. Anonymous11:05 pm

    We saw the trailer when seeing Judy last week. Doesn't open here until around Christmas. Only brief glimpses of the grandson in the trailer, but he looked pretty good. We will see it.

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  6. I've been serious fans of both of them for decades. Have not seen this one yet, hope to soon. Hope you're well, John.

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  7. Barbara Anne11:54 pm

    I saw them interviewed together on Stephen Cobert's show. It can be found on You Tube.

    Your film review was enjoyable. Ta!

    Hugs!

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  8. I love them both and cannot wait to see this one!

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  9. (Just seen and responded to your comment on my own blog).
    I'm steeling myself for the absurdities to come - for me on Tues. Still might quite like it, as long as Sir Ian doesn't keep falling back onto those lazy, indecipherable mumblings he's so prone towards.

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  10. Thanks. I won't be bothering with that one.

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  11. Anonymous1:16 pm

    Have not seen the inside of a movie theater in months because of all the crap that is out there. I'm talking comic book heros. Will be a treat to see Dame Helen and Sir Ian. Russell Tovey is the icing on the cake. Just love him.

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  12. On my list for a cool day sometime soon. Along with Ford vs Ferrari

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  13. Anonymous5:30 pm

    No thanks for spilling so much of the plot. I shan't bother going to see it now.

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    Replies
    1. Well you didn't have to read on did you!

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    2. At The top of the post there clearly states the word
      SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!'

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  14. Thanks, for the review, all I had to do was watch the trailer to figure it out... so, no spoilers.

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  15. I just adore Tovey <3

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  16. I love Helen Mirren! AND Ian McKellen!

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  17. The stars intrigued me, the clips have not. This review isn't doing anything to get me to plunk down money to see it.

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