In Short: What a waste of great actors
I went in knowing it was Ian Mckellan and Helen Mirren and that was all. High anticipation. And it turns out that mattered. After an opening sequence that made it seem like it might be an octagenarian rom com, The Good Liar slowly began to reveal Mckellan’s glee in the shifts of mood needed for the long con. If I hadn’t been so sure that the character Mirren appeared to be playing was not a character that she, as an actress, could possibly be playing, I might have walked out of the cinema, annoyed at a woman being used as a foil for Mckellan’s fun.
Honestly, given the casting, it is not remotely a spoiler to say that yes, this film is a double con. Although it takes a painfully long time to get to the reveal. A time in which I began to reflect on the relative amounts of screen time each of the pair gets. You can guess, right?
Even worse, when the reveal does come, the reason behind Mirren’s deception is a hackneyed trope. A painful hackneyed trope that turns a harrowing real thing into a lazy narrative driver. Mirren, and women in the audience deserve better.
Vital Stats:
Film: The Good Liar
Director: Bill Condon (of Twilight Fame, which might’ve been a clue)
Watched at: The Light Cinema, Cambridge
Date: 4th December 2019
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