I'm not quite sure how to talk about this movie without spoiling things, but then again, given the title and marketing, surely everyone knows what to expect. Ian McKellan and Helen Mirren play Roy and Betty, respectively, two single people of a certain age who meet online and arrange a dinner date together. Despite a little awkwardness -- they each used false names online -- they appear to hit it off well. Betty isn't quite ready for intimacy, having lost her husband the previous year, but the two become quasi-romantic companions. So much so, in fact, that when Roy's knee gives out on him one night, Betty instantly insists that he stay the night in her guest room.
Of course, we're well aware at this point that they are both liars. The excellent opening sequence shows them doing the opposite of what their online profiles describe, and more importantly, we've seen Roy in action. Roy, you see, is a con man, and with his partner they enact various means to swindle others out of money. It would seem his specialty is vulnerable women like Betty, who he plans to woo until she lets him into a joint bank account with her savings. All seems to go according to plan with Roy and his partner (played by Jim Carter) until Betty's grandson Steven (Russell Tovey, who should really be in more movies) gets suspicious.
I can't say too much more about the plot, because even these twists are deliciously executed by The Good Liar. The greatest pleasure of the film is watching its two leads -- who have never starred on screen together -- play a seductive cat-and-mouse game together. But the film has its other charms. It seems to take its aesthetic from Hitchcock at his best, which results in a fabulously stylish if largely bloodless thriller. We're drawn into a magnificently textured and detailed world, where every little prop and piece of clothing is carefully selected for maximum effect; we, like the characters, are drawn into a web of deceit so calculated we don't really know it until too late.
That may not be wholly fair. Jeffrey Hatcher's screenplay has its strong points, of course, but we do see some of the larger twists coming a mile off. This kind of story requires an airtight plot, but we don't get that here. Instead, by the second act, the film tries to smooth everything over with sentiment, which is itself unexpected. We can't expect the motives or rationale, and frankly, in an expository sequence that feels like it came from a completely different movie, I'm not sure The Good Liar earns its own attempt at Big Ideas and Significance. It takes traumatic history and exploits it for crude and unnecessary dramatic purposes.
And yet, by the explosive climax, I could have forgiven this film anything. Surprisingly violent, emotionally and physically, it's one of the most shocking things I've seen on screen all year. Director Bill Condon has lured us into a false sense of security and comfort -- with the exception of another brilliantly staged scene of violence earlier in Charing Cross station -- and finally pulls out the rug at the last. While the film as a whole is clearly inspired by Hitchcock, it manages the uncanny feat of performing itself like something Hitchcock might have created, and shows us yet another skill set of the dynamic and versatile Bill Condon.
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