CNET Networks Entertainment GameSpot | GameFAQs | SportsGamer | Metacritic | MP3.com | TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games Books TV
Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

Film

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

 

Wide Releases

sort by name sort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 

Limited Releases

sort by name sort by score

97 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
83 Alexandra
43 Anamorph
35 Babysitters, The
32 Backseat
80 Band's Visit, The
62 Battle for Haditha
47 Bella
63 Blind Mountain
71 Blindsight
47 Boarding Gate
63 Body of War
58 Bra Boys
70 Caramel
54 Cashback
44 Chaos Theory
32 Chapter 27
69 Chicago 10
82 Chop Shop
46 CJ7
78 Counterfeiters, The
30 Cover
48 Dark Matter
35 Deal
61 Dhamma Brothers, The
92 Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
73 Duchess of Langeais, The
20 Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
58 Fall, The
43 Favor, The
58 First Saturday in May, The
57 Flawless
87 Flight of the Red Balloon, The
xx From Within
44 Frontier(s)
59 Fugitive Pieces
41 Funny Games
66 George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
61 Girls Rock!
55 Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
57 Grand, The
58 Hats Off
68 Honeydripper
xx Jack and Jill vs. the World
67 Jellyfish
xx Kiss the Bride
37 Life Before Her Eyes, The
72 Life of Reilly, The
50 Look
65 Married Life
35 Meet Bill
63 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
54 Mister Lonely
52 My Blueberry Nights
71 My Brother Is an Only Child
52 Noise
61 OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
83 Paranoid Park
55 Pathology
48 Penelope
90 Persepolis
62 Planet B-Boy
xx Plumm Summer, A
67 Praying with Lior
46 Previous Engagement, A
72 Priceless
17 Prom Night
69 Redbelt
72 Roman de gare
48 Run, Fat Boy, Run
85 Savages, The
24 Sex and Death 101
66 Shelter
75 Shotgun Stories
40 Sleepwalking
67 Snow Angels
64 Son of Rambow
71 Standard Operating Procedure
76 Stuff and Dough
64 Surfwise
xx Tashan
82 Taxi to the Dark Side
57 Teeth
56 Then She Found Me
55 Tracey Fragments, The
56 Turn the River
72 Tuya's Marriage
83 U2 3D
59 Under the Same Moon
76 Unforeseen, The
xx Unsettled
91 Up the Yangtze
55 Vice
79 Visitor, The
64 Water Lilies
45 Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?
57 Without the King
74 Witnesses, The
63 XXY
67 Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
75 Young@Heart
45 Zombie Strippers

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.



Big Fat Liar
Universal Pictures

Big Fat Liar reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 36 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.0 out of 10
based on 24 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 18 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG for some language

Starring Frankie Muniz, Amanda Bynes, Paul Giamatti, Lawrence Watson, Lindsay Tryctha, Amanda Detmer, Josh Rusin, and Lee Majors

Who's afraid of the big bad Wolf? Not Jason Shepherd (Muniz), who has to prove that sleazy Hollywood producer Marty Wolf (Giamatti) stole his class paper and turned into a blockbuster hit movie called Big Fat Liar. (Universal)


GENRE(S): Comedy  
WRITTEN BY: Dan Schneider (also story)
Brian Robbins (story)
 
DIRECTED BY: Shawn Levy  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: September 24, 2002 
Video: September 24, 2002 
Theatrical: February 8, 2002 
RUNNING TIME: 87 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

75
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
A surprisingly entertaining movie -- one of those good-hearted comedies like "Spy Kids" where reality is put on hold while bright teenagers outsmart the best and worst the adult world has to offer. It's ideal for younger kids, and not painful for their parents.
Read Full Review
70
Film Threat Heather Wadowski
A hilarious film for anyone who remembers lying as a kid-- and anyone who wants to see a movie that's just plain fun.
Read Full Review
70
Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
An innocent comedic revenge fantasy that somehow manages to be sweet and wickedly satisfying at the same time.
Read Full Review
67
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Ellen A. Kim
The film gets snaps just by attempting the high road, and should be enjoyed by its target audience.
Read Full Review
63
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
A harmless and mildly amusing family comedy.
Read Full Review
60
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Fresh-faced leads Muniz and Bynes are charmers, Giamatti makes Wolf into a splendidly loathsome adversary, and the film is refreshingly free of bodily function jokes.
Read Full Review
50
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
The result is a children's movie that's almost worth seeing even when not accompanied by a child. It's certainly a painless experience, and at times it's quite funny.
Read Full Review
50
Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder
Plays so flat, so to close its "movie message" formula, that it seems as if we've seen this movie before.
Read Full Review
50
The New York Times Stephen Holden
If Ms. Bynes keeps going in this direction, she can conceivably develop a gallery of characters as rich and varied as Tracey Ullman's.
Read Full Review
50
Salon.com Damien Cave
Generally succeeds. But with just a bit more effort the movie might have been funnier and a lot more fun.
Read Full Review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
Big Fat Liar becomes a progression of increasingly elaborate slapstick stunts, in the brutal, noisy "Home Alone" vein, in which the complexity of the pranks rarely yields a commensurate comic reward.
Read Full Review
50
USA Today Claudia Puig
Not so admirably, the film feels at times like a giant commercial for Universal Studios.
Read Full Review
40
Los Angeles Times Jan Stuart
Screenwriter Dan Schneider and director Shawn Levy substitute volume and primary colors for humor and bite. Granted, it's a kids' flick, but kids today have enough savvy about the movie industry to report for Variety.
Read Full Review
40
Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
The movie scores some laughs, all of which come from the expert Giamatti.
Read Full Review
38
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
What starts as a cute premise crashes faster than a skateboard with an oak branch shoved between its wheels.
Read Full Review
38
Boston Globe Jay Carr
Offers little in the way of pleasure, even to its target audience -- the easily pleased and undemanding.
Read Full Review
25
New York Daily News Jami Bernard
There are lame comedies, and then there is Big Fat Liar, which is so lame that it merits its own reserved parking space.
25
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
How appealing is Muniz, taking a break from ''Malcolm in the Middle,'' a day job he should by no means let go of?
Read Full Review
25
ReelViews James Berardinelli
A lame collection of dumber-than-dumb gags, the quality of Big Fat Liar is on par with that of the worst television sit-com gorged to four times its normal size.
Read Full Review
25
New York Post Lou Lumenick
Loud and unfunny, this cheesy-looking farce is mostly an excuse for a series of plugs.
Read Full Review
20
Variety Robert Koehler
Though Muniz and Bynes make a somewhat likable team, their funniest skills are dampened by the material's insistent stupidity.
Read Full Review
20
LA Weekly John Dentino
Old people are made to look ridiculous; clowns are brutalized; characters talk in rapid-fire vaudeville shtick.
Read Full Review
20
The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Big Fat Liar's screenplay, co-written by Robbins and fellow Head Of The Class alumnus Dan Schneider, is a model of comic inefficiency. Like a Rube Goldberg contraption, it goes to excruciating, wildly implausible lengths for the flimsiest of payoffs.
Read Full Review
10
New Times (L.A.) Robert Wilonsky
A bland, obnoxious 88-minute infomercial for Universal Studios.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Brendan gave it a6:
This is a film that might make adults fall asleep but it makes a classic comedy for younger and older children. Amanda Bynes and Frankie Muniz both give memorable performances that will keep the kids laughing. The acting talents of Paul Giamatti are well shown even in a kid's comedy such as this. You can see the actor's Oscar nominated talents very clearly. So it's great for the kids and it might be enjoyable for you but no matter who you are it is a funny film.

Jon gave it a9:
Paul Giamatti is flawless and worth watching alone. Hungry Like the Wolf brings new meaning.

Jeremy gave it a 6:
Ultimately a kids film, but a harmless one with a few clever laughs aimed for the adults.

Robert gave it a 10:
I absolutley loved this film..... I gotta go my car is parked on a dog....in the tail area to be more specific.

Jane D. gave it a 10:
Mitchelle P. is crazy.

[Anonymous] gave it a 10:
The movie was awsome and I love dogs too but I'm not gonna give it a bad rating cuz of it.

Andy E. gave it a 10:
Michelle P. is full of @$!&. It is an awesome movie!

Read more user comments...

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | BOOKS | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

About CNET Networks | Jobs | Advertise | Partnerships                                Visit other CNET Networks sites:

Copyright ©2007 CNET Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use