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'Liar Liar': Truly Funny

Actors, like politicians, play by the same rules: Appeal to the greatest number of people; and don’t go out on a limb unless that branch is reinforced with steel girders. Jim Carrey blew it when he made "The Cable Guy." Funny as he was, America didn’t want to see the comedian playing a psychotic.

But in "Liar Liar," his latest movie, Carrey comes back with a likable vengeance. Although his character has moral problems, there’s a good person just bursting to come out. Carrey is helped by a comedy (scripted by Paul Guay and Stephen Mazur) that cracks open an intriguing Pandora’s box: What would happen if people were suddenly incapable of telling lies? Mostly though, Carrey helps himself. He’s at his funniest since "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective."

He’s Fletcher Reede, a chipper, insincere attorney who coaxes his clients into bending the truth, plays the sycophantic game with his superiors, lies to his own secretary and -- worst of all -- avoids family responsibilities.

His wife, Audrey (Maura Tierney), has divorced him. His son, Max (Justin Cooper), still adores his father, but even the kid has learned that Dad’s an undependable liar. So Max makes a birthday wish that changes things forever: If only Daddy would tell the truth for one day.

In Hollywood comedies, a child’s wish is a powerful thing. From here on, the audience can sit back and enjoy the show. Fletcher, all set to defend a reprehensible client in a divorce case, doesn’t realize he has become a plain-talking time bomb. When the judge -- before a packed courtroom -- politely asks Fletcher how he’s doing, the lawyer tells him. "I’m a little upset about a bad sexual episode I had last night," he says, clamping his hands over his mouth a tad too late.

The awful truth keeps gushing out, and Fletcher tries, with hilarious futility, to close the spigot. He hums loudly when people ask him questions. He sprints through his office to avoid leveling with his colleagues. He throws himself against walls. On one occasion, he puts his head under a toilet seat and repeatedly bangs his face. But nothing can stop the beast.

"It was me!" he confesses, as he leaves an elevator full of people clutching their noses. When Max reiterates his teacher’s sunny aphorism that "beauty is on the inside," Daddy "corrects" him: "That’s just what ugly people say."

As Fletcher sees the error of his ways, "Liar Liar" becomes a predictable morality exercise. But with great gags like these, the formula’s easy to swallow. Imagine Jim Carrey trying to stop himself from being‚. . .‚Jim Carrey. It’s a magnificent comic experience.

LIAR LIAR (PG-13) — Contains a torrid, but ungraphic sex scene, mild profanity and painful truth-telling.