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Where the Truth Lies
ThinkFilm Inc.


7.1

based on 29 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 9 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth, Alison Lohman, Sonja Bennett, Rachel Blanchard, Kathryn Winslow, David Hayman, and Maury Chaykin

A provocative film about interconnected lives that are shattered by ill-fated acts of deception and ambition. Shifting effortlessly between mob-run clubs of the mid-50's and glamorous Hollywood Hills mansions of 1972, the film explores the dark, beguiling, and inevitably destructive side of fame and fortune. The result is a tense and atmospheric mystery that uses cinematic sleight-of-hand to challenge any preconceptions about "truth." (Serendipity Point Films)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Atom Egoyan Rupert Holmes (novel)
DIRECTED BY:	Atom Egoyan
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: February 28, 2006 Theatrical: October 14, 2005
RUNNING TIME:	108 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Canada / UK / USA

Nominated, Golden Palm, 2005 Cannes Film Festival

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...

The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett

Atom Egoyan has delivered a big, slick and sexy mystery in Where the Truth Lies, turning the Rupert Holmes novel into a sumptuous tale of show business hype and duplicity.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

A mood of lush romantic decadence -- sleaze made enigmatic -- hovers over Where the Truth Lies, which has a score that works so hard to evoke "Vertigo" that it may leave you dizzy.

Empire Alan Morrison

A rare film in which the style IS the substance.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Kevin Bacon is on a roll right now after several good roles, and here he channels diabolical sleaze while mugging joylessly before the telethon cameras.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

A fascinating ride through morally ambiguous territory to a place you've never been before.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

High-gloss trash but compulsively watchable.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

The real reason to see it is its style, which sets an otherwise fairly unremarkable whodunit in a seedy, lite-Lynchian wonderland that's enjoyable to hang out in for a while.

LA Weekly Ben Kenigsberg

When conventional answers arrive, Where the Truth Lies seems as cheesy as its title -- but its disorienting layers of narrative make the double-entendre almost profound.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

There are moments here so out of whack that you almost wonder if David Lynch isn't snickering somewhere at having fooled everyone into thinking someone else made the film.

Chicago Tribune Jessica Reaves

Entertaining and even affecting, Where the Truth Lies is a failure primarily because it doesn't do justice to its originator, Rupert Holmes' dishy 2003 novel, which shared both of the aforementioned characteristics but also was extremely funny. The film, directed by Atom Egoyan, is not.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Egoyan drains the life right out of the material, and the result is a chilly, complicated thriller that's neither thrilling nor a "Through the Looking Glass" head spinner.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Atom Egoyan's most mainstream and genre-oriented picture in his 20-year career applies a thick noir lacquer to a jumbled, time-jumping tale of a young female journalist prying the facts out of the aging entertainers and their cronies.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Egoyan's uncharacteristic bid for the mainstream flames out on many levels, but it's hard not to stare with fascination at the dying embers.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

In the end, it is Mr. Egoyan's fealty to the novel, its feints and dodges, that proves the film's undoing.

USA Today Mike Clark

Stilted film squanders an intriguing premise.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Egoyan's sensibility doesn't quite fit the material. His trademark stone-faced austerity never bends to capture the black comedy in the dissonance between his characters' public and private lives. It almost demands a trashier approach.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

It's compelling in the way many B-movies are - cheap, sleazy, and lacking the depth we have come to associate with this director.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Terrific performances by Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth as a comic duo clearly modeled on Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin get swallowed up in Atom Egoyan's muddled murder mystery.

Dallas Observer Melissa Levine

Again, Lohman's lack of power--and passion--saps the story of its life. It's a shame, because a bold performance would have given Firth and Bacon even more to work with, and the relationships between and among the members of that ménage à trois could have really begun to zing.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

A strange mix of showbiz whodunit and soft-core eroticism, with a couple of fine actors - Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth - wandering around stunned and stoned-looking, as if someone slipped them a mickey.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Malevolence is in generous supply throughout the film. Easy enjoyment is not.

New York Magazine Ken Tucker

The time shifts are awkward, and Egoyan displays little of the deftness of characterization he evinced in such movies as "Exotica" (1994) and "The Sweet Hereafter" (1997); the result is a cold scold of a movie.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

This showbiz Rashomon has continuity, as well as credibility, problems.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Canadian director Atom Egoyan delivers a rare misfire with Where the Truth Lies, a shockingly fatuous murder mystery with pseudo-intellectual pretensions.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Alison Lohman isn't very convincing as the reporter who's trying to dredge up some dirt on the entertainers, and the elaborate flashback structure can't hide the fact that the story never fully comes to life.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

An erotic thriller. It is also an Atom Egoyan picture, which means any claims either to actual eroticism or conventional thrills are theoretical at best.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

As cold and unseemly as that stiff found in the shower.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Never before has Egoyan made a picture this egregiously, relentlessly bad.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

This movie isn't over-the-top -- it doesn't know where the top is. Trash addicts will eat up every graphic minute, even if they prefer to wait for the DVD.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.1 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Chad S. gave it a7:
In the publishing industry, there are two types of autobiography: the memoir and the unauthorized tell-all. Karen(Alison Lohman) is an aspiring investigative journalist(imagine Kitty Kelley with a moral compass) writing a competing book about the life of Vince(Colin Firth), who comprised one-half of a comedy team that she admired as a polio-stricken lass. "Where the Truth Lies", Atom Egoyan's least painstakingly esoteric film since "Speaking Parts", is quite the departure for the celebrated Canadian filmmaker of Armenian descent; this time out, he's extending an olive branch out to the hoi polloi instead of catering strictly to a film festival jury(the only people alive who screened "Calendar") and movie buffs(I watched "Ararat" three times, sad, I know). On the surface, "Where the Truth Lies" thrills and titilates, but the central idea that Egoyan really wants to get across, echoes the same sentiment in Todd Solondz's "Storytelling", which is that all non-fiction is basically fiction. Each voice-over narrative, Vince's and Karen's, miss the truth by inches(white lies), or by miles(lies; a conspiracy to cover up the real story). "Where the Truth Lies" is Egoyan's first attempt at genre filmmaking and it's mostly successful, in spite of Lohman's inability(like Scarlett Johanson in "The Black Dahlia") to evoke the Hollywood sirens of yesteryear. Rachel Blanchard(who plays Maureen) is more successful, and should've had more screen time.

Kevin gave it a3:
Doesn't really make narrative sense. Characters are never really fleshed out. Not such a good adaptation of an excellent book.

Gale G. gave it a9:
Smart, intelligent departure for Egoyan. Entertaining whodunit surrounded by strong cast including ever surprising Colin Firth. Who knew among all his other talents he could scat? What's next gangster rap? A slick POV film that begs to be viewed repeatedly to see all the nuances. Cheers to a job well done All!

Michele A. gave it a9:
Firth and Bacon were wonderful, cinematography and music lush. More enjoyable for the aura and characterizations than for the plot. Don't let the mixed reviews keep you from seeing it!

Anandgyan gave it a7:
Slick production and many titillating moments, the thriller is astutely rendered, alas the detective seems naive though she delivers. In short; misleading lead characters!

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Where the Truth Lies ThinkFilm Inc.

Where the Truth Lies
ThinkFilm Inc.