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Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
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Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
66
Bandslam
45
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
29
Collector, The
23
Couples Retreat
80
District 9
61
Extract
39
Fame
xx
Fantastic Mr. Fox
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
60
Funny People
32
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
27
Gamer
41
G-Force
39
Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, The
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Love Happens
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
51
My Sister's Keeper
42
Orphan
28
Pandorum
63
Perfect Getaway, A
86
Ponyo![]()
35
Post Grad
48
Proposal, The
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
24
Sorority Row
83
Star Trek![]()
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
55
Taking Woodstock
47
Time Traveler's Wife
96
Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3D![]()
35
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
28
Ugly Truth, The
88
Up![]()
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum![]()
56
Adam
72
Adela
39
Adventures of Power
78
Afghan Star
61
After the Storm
66
Afterschool
xx
All the Best
58
American Casino
72
Amreeka
48
Antichrist
73
Araya
62
Art & Copy
55
As Seen Through These Eyes
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The![]()
13
Beautiful Life, A
70
Beeswax
35
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71
Big Fan
66
Black Dynamite
51
Blind Date
xx
Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76
Bliss
35
Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57
Boys Are Back, The
45
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star![]()
70
Bronson
45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
55
Casi Divas
57
Chelsea on the Rocks
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
59
Collapse
44
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82
Cove, The![]()
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The![]()
67
Departures
xx
Dil Bole Hadippa
71
Disgrace
xx
Do Knot Disturb
70
Earth Days
24
Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85
Education, An![]()
55
Endgame
xx
Eulogy for a Vampire
xx
Everyone Else
xx
Fatal Promises
56
Fifty Dead Men Walking
62
Five Minutes of Heaven
74
Flame & Citron
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
28
Free Style
xx
From Mexico with Love
50
Fuel
25
Gentlemen Broncos
50
Give Me Your Hand
58
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo![]()
52
Grace
66
Harmony and Me
81
Headless Woman, The![]()
xx
Heretics, The
63
Horse Boy, The
73
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
74
Humpday
94
Hurt Locker, The![]()
29
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16
If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75
In Search of Beethoven
83
In the Loop![]()
61
Intimate Enemies
42
Irene in Time
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
19
Labor Day
xx
Laila's Birthday
41
Little Ashes
41
Little Traitor, The
66
Liverpool
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
83
Maid, The![]()
xx
Ministers, The
59
More Than a Game
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
xx
Mystery Team
48
New York, I Love You
73
Night and Day
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34
Other Man, The
xx
Painter Sam Francis, The
54
Paper Heart
xx
Paradise
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
44
Peter and Vandy
35
Play the Game
77
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx
Pretty Ugly People
65
Providence Effect, The
76
Rembrandt's J'accuse
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
40
Shrink
61
Skin
77
Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx
Skiptracers
46
Splinterheads
39
St. Trinian's
89
Still Walking![]()
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
55
Storm
65
Tetro
70
That Evening Sun
72
Thirst
xx
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61
Trucker
xx
Turning Green
83
U2 3D![]()
66
Unmade Beds
66
Unmistaken Child
70
Visual Acoustics
55
Walt & El Grupo
67
Way We Get By, The
69
We Live in Public
64
Wedding Song, The
64
Where is Where?
xx
White on Rice
74
Woman in Berlin, A
69
World's Greatest Dad
70
Yes Men Fix the World
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx
You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Big Fat Liar

Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 24 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 18 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy
Written by:
Dan Schneider (also story)
Brian Robbins (story)
Directed by: Shawn Levy
Release Date:
Theatrical: February 8, 2002
DVD: September 24, 2002
Running Time: 87 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
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)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Cheaper by the Dozen Just Married Night at the Museum Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian The Pink Panther
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
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...
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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >USA Today Claudia Puig
Not so admirably, the film feels at times like a giant commercial for Universal Studios.
Read Full Review >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 >Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
The movie scores some laughs, all of which come from the expert Giamatti.
Read Full Review >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 >Boston Globe Jay Carr
Offers little in the way of pleasure, even to its target audience -- the easily pleased and undemanding.
Read Full Review >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.
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 >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 >New York Post Lou Lumenick
Loud and unfunny, this cheesy-looking farce is mostly an excuse for a series of plugs.
Read Full Review >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 >LA Weekly John Dentino
Old people are made to look ridiculous; clowns are brutalized; characters talk in rapid-fire vaudeville shtick.
Read Full Review >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 >New Times (L.A.) Robert Wilonsky
A bland, obnoxious 88-minute infomercial for Universal Studios.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
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!
