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Liar (1997)

Director: Jonas Pate, Josh Pate

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From Time Out Film Guide

Deceit, infidelity and murder. Sex, drugs and guns. Obsession, schizophrenia and psychosis. Roth, Penn and Rooker. Yup, another hard-boiled US indie offering. There's a murdered woman (Zellweger), so rich bad boy Roth sits across a polygraph machine from detective Rooker and junior trainee Penn, and tells his story. Then he tells it again. Then he tells another one. Cue flashbacks while we puzzle out what's going on: Roth's character seems to be playing power games with his interrogators, confidence tricks with the lie detector and generally misbehaving, but like everyone else he has his problems, not the least of which is that he's an alcoholic epileptic. There's fun to be had watching the three leads each turning the screw; the knotty flashback structure is handled with some lucidity; and the film often looks striking. Finally, though, the screenplay by twin writer/directors Jonas and Josh Pate fails to unearth any fresh insights into the nature of memory and duplicity.

Author: NB 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

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Cast & crew

Director: Jonas Pate, Josh Pate

Producer: Peter Glatzer

Cast: Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Michael Rooker, Renée Zellweger, Ellen Burstyn, Rosanna Arquette full cast

Genre(s): Thrillers

Duration: 102 mins


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