Big Fat Liar Review

joy hello and welcome to the third episode of

the m wire movie we can review today we're going

to be discussing big fat liar i am tfg1 mike

and as usual i'm joined by steve megatron hello

howdy how are you tired but not as tired as usual

you're always tired yes it was i think last night

uh... friday night because this will be going

up on saturday uh... the What the hell's today's

date? I don't know. Today is the 25th. Yeah,

the 25th. You know, last night was the first

night I had nothing else to do as far as podcasting

other than grabbing audio for this episode. I

did that in maybe like, I don't know, 30 minutes

and the rest of the night was spent watching

Wicked Attraction, Angel, and Without A Trace.

Yeah yesterday I pretty much went with my wife

after I got out of work and we went up to because

we decided there's nothing good playing in our

drive -in the only one we have left Because they've

had I mean I've ever seen Transformers did it

in there it's been in there for like a month

and a half well not a month and a half because

it hasn't been out that long but It's been in

there a while. It's got a bunch of other movies

that I don't care to see So there's no point

going to the drive -in at this point and the

theater I don't ever go see movies on the opening

weekend because I have a bunch of ignorant people

that sit there and no matter what theater or

how long the movie's been out, I always end up

with some retards sitting behind me making as

much noise as they can possibly make to interrupt

my movie. viewing experience because I could

sit completely in a different area with nobody

and they'll sit right behind us but nevertheless

we went to Blockbuster and got the $21 pass that

you can rent as many movies I mean it's one out

at a time but you can go up there as many times

as you want so we went up there and we rented

Taken although we didn't have time to watch it

right away so we got The Day the Earth Stood

Still which was really good and today I'm going

to go get the GI Joe DVD to watch Yes, and ladies

and gentlemen, he means to rent it not to buy

it because you know We're not wasting $30 on

a 30 year old DVD or whatever it is What it is

is it came out in 2000 on DVD. Yeah, but it's

the same quality as what was on the 87 release

on VHS Because I have the VHS tape. There's multiple

versions of it. I have the one that was released

in 87 It must have came from a video store or

something. Actually it did. Because I'm looking

at the sticker on the back. It was one of my

favorite movies as a kid. I watched it quite

often. Even though some of the Cobra Law stuff

I didn't really care about or the turning of

Cobra Commander into a snitch. I did still like

that movie a lot. So bad so that I have a plastic

hardcover over the outside case because it got

torn to hell. So I was looking online and of

course, I can't find any unless I want it like

Not very well quality on eBay for under 20 bucks

And I want a near quality good quality and it

ranges from 20 to 40 bucks Yeah, and I'm not

spending that on a you know, ten -year -old disc

So I'm gonna wait until either shout factory

or someone else redoes the DVD and remasters

it And then I'll buy it. Our content is not going

to slow down fast, but it's not going to be as

much as we did last week. No, last week was pure

hell, but that was just because we had a show

coming to an end. I had a late release of one.

There was another one that... It was just a fluke

that there was an extra recording actually a

couple extra recordings for a couple of the shows

Yeah So like this coming week there might be

I mean obviously there's going to be this show

yeah, it's gonna wire episode 3 which actually

was supposed to be the die -hard episode, but

Mr.. Dodd came down with the flu, and he's deathly

ill and is invoking illness on everyone that's

around him. Luckily we can't catch it through

Skype. Thank God for that. No disrespect, Mike,

we do want to have him on. Yes, and hopefully

he has a quick recovery. Yes, because we need

to get this die -hard shit done, because I've

already got it written up, ready to go, I've

got all the audio, the audio's ready to go. So

yeah, probably releases you're gonna see from

us this week obviously this episode of MWIRE

Tooncast 9 which will be Dexter's lab Possibly

another SDCC HTTF episode. I don't know yet haven't

really Worked that out yet Because there have

been tons of News items as far as TF goes from

from SDCC as far as like toys and stuff And I

may do, I'm not sure about this, I may do a BotCon

comic specific ATTF because I have the BotCon

08 comic, the Shattered Glass comic, and I'm

trying to find people that have the other years.

Well, see, I have the 2006 with the Beast Wars

comic. I actually have three different copies

of it. Three different copies? How do you have

three different copies of it? There was one released

I mean I think they were all released from fan

productions or fun productions or whatever but

there's I have like two different covered ones

and then one from another like diamond select

so like two of them have different covers completely.

What I'm specifically looking for for that episode

is the ones that come with the box sets. So,

I don't know which ones you may have, or which,

you know, I don't know which one. Well, it's

the same exact comic. It's just, one's got a

different outside cover, and it has bios on the

inside. That's fine. I actually have one that,

um, cause I actually bought too many of them.

I actually have one that I'm probably going to

give away as a giveaway item. I have several,

like, old Dreamwave comics. that I have multiple

copies of because Stupid Me didn't go make a

list when buying them. So I was just like, oh,

I think I have this one. And so I have most of

the, I have doubles of the original Beast Wars

gathering. And I have like the issue zero of,

you know, like the IDW series and some of the

MicroMasters and Yeah, stuff like that. I do

like the comics from BotCon. Yeah, I have the

Shattered Glass comic and the art and I'm not

really trying to spoil it, but the art in that

is just awesome. Alright, well I think we're

going to get into today's show topic. Another

feature I was thinking about adding to this show

would be just before The the topics on hand.

Mm -hmm. We could touch on and I know this is

like kind of last -minute throw in but We could

touch on like movies that are coming out. Yeah

We either in theater or in the future or ones

that are talked about it for instance SDCC. Mm

-hmm We could do that at the end of the show

today if you want sure that way we can kind of

because this is already running This intro is

already running almost eight minutes. So Um,

yeah, we're gonna get into our show topic today,

which is Big Fat Liar. What do you think? Wanna

see it? See it? I think I wrote it. Today's topic

kind of got moved around. It wasn't actually

until episode 8 that we talked about Big Fire,

but as we said in the general chat portion of

the show, the birdman has caught the flu. He's

caught the bird flu. Yeah, I was going to say,

make your own jokes if you want, folks. You know,

we will save the diehard episode for him because

that's what he is, you know, that's his his thing

and So yeah, we're just gonna talk about big

fat liar today this movie came out in 2002 It's

actually very funny. I Didn't think it was gonna

be as funny as that was gonna be because most

of Frankie Muniz is movies Like, uh, Agent Cody

Banks and Agent Cody Banks 2. Stuff like that.

It's, um, kinda weird. Uh, and just not, I don't

know, I just didn't find them that, you know,

that really funny. Well, it's like watching his

TV show. Well, Malcolm in the Middle isn't that

bad. But it's, yeah. Yeah, but it's not good.

This, this I would have to say is one of my favorite

things that he is in. Oh, yes. Because it's kind

of nice rounded out cast. Yeah and So we're gonna

I'm gonna start reading the plot synopsis the

way the MWIRE episodes are gonna go as far as

plots If we have like more than one movie, we

may have one person reading one movie's plot

We may have another person reading the other

movies plot or whatever, but for the individual

ones We're just gonna comment as I go along reading

this Just because it's easier than having a plot

and then commenting on it, you know afterwards

so At the beginning of the film protagonist Jason

Shepard Frankie Muniz a boy residing in the fictional

town of Greenberry, Michigan Wow Hmm. I wonder

how close that is to you if it's fictional Yeah

true because I know that that's not a real town

I tried looking it up on Google to see and it's

there's only a Greenberry Pennsylvania But yeah,

that would be cool to find out how close. Oh,

yeah. Jason is a profuse but disorganized liar.

When his English teacher, Miss Phyllis Caldwell,

played by Sandra Oh, assigns her class a creative

writing essay, Jason does not complete it. His

parents are later called into school, where Miss

Caldwell tells Jason that if he can't bring her

a handwritten essay at the community college

by six o 'clock, she will consider it. No, if

he can bring her handwritten essay at the community

college by six o 'clock she will consider it

as a valid contribution to his grade. Jason therefore

writes a story called Big Fat Liar. Riding his

sister's old bicycle he is distracted and collides

with a limousine of a arrogant Hollywood producer

named Marty Wolfe played by Paul Giamatti. Whereupon

Jason blackmails Wolfe into giving him a ride

to school. When the limousine reaches the college

Jason hastens into it, not realizing that he

has forgotten his essay. Just on these first

couple of paragraphs, one of the funniest things

was the reason why Jason had to use his sister's

old bike was because the bully, the local bully,

actually stole his skateboard, and this is that

scene now. That's just funny So yeah, and his

sister is like all into this rap thing and she's

got this, you know And as as we've said before,

you know, we will comment on on cultural things,

but I'm sorry white people should not pretend

that they're black You know this whole gangster

rap thing and whatever else but that's the character

that that the sister's boyfriend portrays And

so he has to get to the college. And of course,

once he's in the car, he's forgotten his essay.

It's actually very funny. I didn't actually grab

clips from the limousine scene. But Marty and

Jason are very, very similar at the beginning

of the movie. And the whole point of the movie

is watching Jason realize that lying is wrong.

Wow. Wolf does not. Yes, exactly. Wolf keeps

riding his same boat that he's always ridden.

As everyone knows, it bites him in the ass in

the long run. So upon his entering the school,

Jason realizes he does not have the essay. Neither

his parents nor Ms. Caldwell believe him when

he claims to have written it and is therefore

ordered to undergo a summer school. Later, Jason

and his friend Kaylee, played by Amanda Bynes,

learn that Marty Wolfe has plagiarized Jason's

composition by making a film of Big Fat Liar.

And for those people who are listening to the

episode, you will hear as the intro to this episode,

the movie premiere of Big Fat Liar, or the preview,

because in the movie, he goes to... The theater

with Kaylee to see some other movie and and it

you know how they have previews at theaters Yeah,

and that's the that's how we find out that Marty

stole his paper So when his parents and elder

sister Leave town on a holiday Jason and Kaylee

used Jason's savings to fly to Los Angeles in

order to confront wolf leaving a local bully

to attend to Kaylee's absent -minded grandmother.

As far as the savings, he said three years of

lawn mowing and babysitting money or something

like that, and holy crap. That was a lot of money

in that jar. I seriously doubt someone can get

that much money in, well, three years maybe.

Well, it must have been a rich neighborhood.

I was going to say, yeah. And I don't see how

much money would fly out of Michigan for a kid.

I had a hard enough time making money. He probably

had enough money in that jar, technically, according

to the movie, that I would make at... and that's

the jury working part -time let's reach it out

of the journey in was holding it as a lot in

his hand i mean it was probably about as big

as my hand yeah uh... as far as the bully being

at the grandmas house the bully that actually

brett the though the bullet took his skateboard

doesn't wanna uh... fail summer school because

whatever also jason caley tell him that they

will do his homework summer school homework from

as long as he stays with with her grandmother

So at the studio, Jason tricks the receptionist

into leaving her post and to allow Jason to speak

with Wolf. Wolf agrees to return the essay, but

then burns it and has Jason removed from his

office. Again, I may put the receptionist scene

as a special feature at the end of the episode.

I did not grab that audio right away because

I was planning on doing it this morning. I didn't

realize we were starting so early. and uh...

which is fine but it is just so funny uh... manor

amanda binds his character caley she calls her

and tells her some little dog has gotten you

know his tail caught under her wheeler over car

in the parking garage in and the secretary is

like sold you know not broken up by it non well

yeah but not it non -animal cruelty type person,

you know, she's like, oh, I love animals and

blah, blah, blah. And just the sound she makes

in her voice when Kaylee's telling her all this

stuff like, oh my god, I'm coming, puppy. It's

just, it's so funny. And then she takes over,

the receptionist. Yeah, and then Kaylee takes

over the receptionist while Jason goes upstairs

to talk to Wolf. And Amanda Bynes, she... Is

I don't know if she's done any other voice acting

as far as like maybe animated stuff as far as

just general voice acting and not actual acting

on screen She's done robots and a few other movies.

Oh really I was gonna yeah because she has awesome

voice stuff on this Yeah, she she does have a

really good voice and acting talent Yes, very

much. So and it's good -looking. So yeah In response,

Jason and Kaylee plan to inconvenience Wolf until

he admits to having stolen BFL. Taken to Wolf's

house by Frank Jackson, an actor formerly mistreated

by Wolf, they add dye into Wolf's pool and shampoo,

giving him blue skin and orange hair. The guy

that plays Frank Jackson is Donald Faison. Most

people will know him from Scrubs. he is just

funny as hell and one of the funniest things

that he did in this was when they were trying

to Jason actually tricked him and told him that

Jason was the fur king of the Midwest or whatever

else and dealing in fur coats and stuff like

that to get a free ride to the studio and when

Jackson finds out about this he's like You little,

I'm gonna get you, uh, you owe me $100 for yesterday's

ride and they're trying to explain he's doing

like a stalled car thing and I grabbed that,

so here's that. It's just funny. I love that

whole scene, it's just so funny. This whole movie

overall has little... little tiny pranks like

that throughout the entire thing that make it

memorable. Oh, yeah, very much so. And the other

thing is I was because there's we'll go over

the DVD features later, but there's there's two

commentaries on here, one by Frankie Muniz and

one by the film director Sean Levy. And Sean

Levy said the whole. seen with them in the car

and Donald doing that, that was him improvising

and Sean just let him do it because it was funny

as hell. And I think that's great in films that,

you know, if something works that directors will

let the actor go ahead and do it. Well, I mean

that happens in animation too. Yeah, that's true

too. Quite often. I mean, for instance, look

at Megatron and Beast Wars. See, the yes and

the excellent and the no, those were all thrown

in there by David Kaye to improvise and add a

different kind of depth to the character. Oh.

OK, where was I? Kaylee impersonating the studio

president's secretary sends Wolf. to a child's

party, where he is taken for a clown and attacked

by the children present. Meanwhile, Jason and

Kaylee modify the controls on his car, causing

various controls to perform the incorrect functions,

and playing Blue Daba Dee by Eiffel 65, resembling

his blue skin and struggling to control his car,

he crashes into a monster truck whose driver

destroys Wolf's car in response. Actually have

the audio from the guy and I will start using

this in our other shows because I think it's

a really really cool line From the monster truck

guy when wolf hits his car As a result of the

pranks, Wolf misses his appointment with the

studio with Marcus Duncan, played by Russell

Hornsby, president of the studio. This was shown

in the real trailer for the film. The um, the

clip where the tow truck driver has gotten Marty's

car behind him and he's got Marty in the truck

with him. They told me to pick up a little blue

car. They didn't say anything about him. I always

laugh at that. I actually thought that was Luke

Wilson, but I don't think it is. I think it's

somebody else. Um, so. Yeah, I don't think it

was him either. later meets Duncan at a party

celebrating the premiere of his film, Whitaker

and Fowl, which proves to be a box office failure.

Duncan, as a result of that failure, distrusts

Wolf to create anything better and tells him

that all funding for Big Fat Liar will be withdrawn

unless Wolf can convince him otherwise. Duncan

also warns him that should any mishap occur during

production, the film and Wolf's career will be

terminated. Jason agrees to help Wolf in exchange

for a confession of the truth to Jason's father.

And it should be said, I should go back. Throughout

this whole process of them doing these pranks

to Marty, they've noticed, before that happened,

Jason was spying on him and stole his PDA during

a meeting with Marty and his crew for the Big

Fat Liar movie, and he was mistreating every

single one of them. And that comes into play

later. So Wolf, guided by Jason, makes a successful

presentation, but rather than fulfill his promise,

he calls his guards and has Jason and Kaylee

removed. Jason is about to accept defeat when

Wolf's secretary, Monty, appears and states that

because many of Wolf's coworkers and employees,

including Monty herself, have been abused, they

are willing to help Jason and Kaylee take revenge

on him. Together they all devise a plan by which

to do so. By now, Marty has removed or concealed

the blue color of his skin. Again, like I said

a second ago, all these people that Marty has

pretty much abused over the years have all come

together and just are ready to kick his ass.

So, entered into the studio, Wolf falls into

several traps organized by his former co -workers.

Upon arriving at the studio, which actually the

traps are actually very funny, Frank Jackson,

the limo driver, they actually have a smoke machine

in the limo to simulate the car breaking down,

and then Jaleel White, who plays a character

in the movie, Comes by in this like BMW convertible

and of course, you know Marty always makes reference

to you know, you're just Urkel and blah blah

blah blah blah and Gets in the car. He goes.

This is a nice car Urkel. It was a Jalil. Yeah

all that TV money. I didn't go to waste did it

And then so oracle is like speeding down this

desert road and he's like most like slam slam

i'm stopping i'm getting out do what you gotta

do so wolf takes a tumble out of the bmw and

then oracle calls into jason and then he goes

we've been all for the desert oracle is out need

speeds off it's just it's funny as hell uh...

yeah uh... so yeah Upon arriving at the studio,

bedraggled and desperate, he finds that Jason

has taken hostage his prized toy chimpanzee,

Mr. Funnybones. God, I wanted to set that thing

on fire every time I saw it. He pursues Jason

until a climactic rooftop confrontation wherein

Wolf admits to stealing Jason's story. Thinking

that they are alone, immediately it is revealed

that he has been under video surveillance throughout

the confession. As a result, he is exposed and

shamed before all those whom he has abused. Jason's

parents and Marcus Duncan himself Duncan is outraged

at Wolf for his act of plagiarism and fires him.

While Jason's parents reestablish their trust

in Jason, Jason thanks Wolf for having taught

him that the truth, as he tells Wolf in reverse

of his own advice, is not overrated. The film

Big Fat Liar is later reproduced and shown at

the movies, utilizing the talents and skills

of all those whom Wolf had abused. Jason is credited

for having the written original story. After

that scene it goes to some credits and then it

goes but you know how some movies will do like

end scenes like Transformers does and stuff like

that. The unemployed wolf finds a job as a clown

in which a role he is assigned to entertain the

son of the monster truck driver whom he insulted.

Recognizing him, the father orders his son to

utilize his newly learned prize fighting technique

as a means of avenging the earlier offense. This

concludes the film. uh... this film is one of

those that if you're like so down on the dumps

that you need to laugh your ass off to you know

feel better you can put this in and you can laugh

so hard it's not even funny oh yeah definitely

especially with all the pranks that get pulled

oh yeah it's very much so um... i'm gonna kinda

go down the uh... go down a little cast list

i have here you got uh... i don't know who this

first one is jordan Hello, Hannah is Jordan.

Oh That might have been a little kid. I'm not

really sure you got Frankie Muniz is Jason Shepherd

Paul Giamatti is Marty wolf Amanda Vines is Kaylee

Amanda Detmer is Monty Alex Breckenridge is Janey

Shepherd Rebecca Corey as Astrid Barker Astrid

Barker was the secretary Donald Faison is Frank

Jackson Julie White as himself often called uncle

by Marty center played the uh... the uh... teacher

brussell hornsberry horns we played the arm marcus

duncan that are at the uh... studio president

uh... michael brian french played the father

christine tucci which i didn't even think she

was in this uh... played the mother carol shepard

lee majors six million dollar man played vince

the uh... the stunt guy yeah that's right chanel

brian played leo amy hill jocelyn davis Oh, Jocelyn

Davis was the PR woman that he dissed. And at

the end of the film, she was eating a Twinkie

because he dissed her, saying, oh, all she can

do is eat Twinkies. John Cho, who is actually

a very good martial artist, and I believe he

also does act. I don't know what else he's acted

in, but he plays Dusty Wong, who is the director.

Taryn Killam played Brett the bully Sparkle played

grandma pearl what she's done a whole I Know

she's probably had a whole bunch of other stuff

that she's done I just don't know what it what

it is off top of my head and then as far as um

Like little guest appearances you had Sean Levy

who was the director? He was a party guest Of

wolves and then Keenan Thompson and Dustin Diamond

as party goers It was just super super funny

if you want to read some of the trivia you can

Yeah, this is the the Disney Channel actually

removed all the insignias of pertaining to like

coca -cola and Some of the bottles of liquor

in Marty's office Obviously so they didn't have

to pay lawsuit fees or so that they didn't get

sued for showing liquor to children Says Marty

Wolf offers to Jason Shepard that he will tell

his meaning Jason's father that He not only wrote

Big Fat Wire, but also Saving Private Ryan a

movie wherein Paul Giamatti starred Marty wolf

constantly makes reference to Jaleel White's

character from Family Matters Which it would

have been cool to see him actually act like Urkel

none for this Take but not for the actual film.

Okay. Yeah, that's what I mean. Just something

like that, but Most movie was filmed in a back

lot of Universal Studios Says the crew was also

sneaked onto the set of the Scorpion King and

shot some footage while that film's crew was

away The screenwriter for this film also created

Nickelodeon shows such as The Amanda Show, Drake

and Josh, Zoey 101, and iCarly. The film takes

a strong reference, slash illusion, from Aesop's

fable, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, in the naming

of the protagonist and the villain. Which I think

that's really cool. You know, you have the shepherd

and the wolf. That was, I didn't actually know

that. Moving into Adam Sandler and director Steven

Spielberg are mentioned as acquaintances to Marty

wolf However, the Disney Channel changed the

name Spielberg to soda bird in in order to prevent

any lawsuits, which I'm sorry It's a name the

name You can drop his name. It's probably because

he's like attached to the film Well, they I think

it's cuz I don't know he's just You know, who

knows? I don't see what really matters. Disney

does some weird weird stuff sometimes. Well,

and also, you know, Spielberg is usually in a

lot of like Nickelodeon -ish stuff or, you know,

things related to that. So, I mean, I don't know.

Yeah, but when I read that, you know, I was like,

what the hell? And I didn't even... I didn't

even realize it when I was watching the film,

so I don't know. As far as the reception, the

film received mixed reviews, gaining a rotten

rating at Rotten Tomatoes of 44%. Some critics

praised the film as energetic and witty, others

called it dull and formulaic. Whatever. Nevertheless,

it grossed $47 million at the box office. This

film was rated PG for some language. I'm sorry,

this film is funny. I didn't see it as, you know,

being a formula of another film. You know, all

the films that were coming out that year in 2002,

this is by far one of the best ones. Well, yeah,

and I can name another one that came out that

year that completely bombed and did worse than

this movie And that was Star Trek nemesis And

that's why they didn't have another Star Trek

movie until this year. Just going over the DVD

features since I do have the DVD here in my hand.

There is an exclusive Let Amanda Bynes Be Your

Personal Guide throughout the menus. Outrageous

deleted scenes. There is a Spyro video game extras

only available on this DVD. There's cheat codes

for Spyro 2. As we've said, this movie came out

in 2002, so it's an old game. Interactive Universal

Studios back lot adventure. Are you a big fat

liar? which is a quiz game that you can play

trivia challenge behind the scenes feature ed

and As I said before feature commentaries with

actor Frankie Muniz and director Sean Levy I

wish that they would have gotten a whole cast

commentary or at least had Amanda Bynes in on

the commentary with Frankie Muniz I thought that

would have been really really cool But unfortunately,

they didn't As far as comedies go, as far as

the movie goes in general, I would probably give

this a 9 out of 10. For me, I'd probably give

it about an 8, but it is still up there. I wouldn't

say that it was a rotten movie because it wasn't.

No, it wasn't, not at all. Like I said, there

were other rotten movies that year and this wasn't

one of them. Oh yes, very much so. Alright, well,

that's it for our discussion. I think we're going

to go on to maybe some movie news next and then

the outro, so we'll be right back.