Customer Reviews

Where the Truth Lies (Rated Edition)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I am a fan of several of Atom Egoyan's films, and was curious about the milieu of this one. Since seeing it, I find my mind drifting back to it with some consistency; empirically speaking, I know it affected me on some levels that I'm only dimly aware of. I thought Kevin Bacon's take on a character meant to remind us of the older Jerry Lewis was rich and daring; Colin Firth made an indelible impression as his straight man, the repressed but debonair Brit standing in for Dean Martin's suave Italian-American. Alison Lohman seems not quite up to her key role, and I found myself wondering if Egoyan might have had someone more cerebral like Sarah Polley (he cast her so perfectly in The Sweet Hereafter) in mind instead. A classic whodunit dressed up in artsy chronology, you will find yourself changing your mind a few times about what really happened before the final scenes.

I am very gratified that the word of mouth on this film, as found on this site, has been so good. The official reviews have been mixed at best, and the film's release has been severely limited, perhaps due to the ratings controversy.

From what I heard in the audience in NYC, I got the impression that Atom Egoyan's fans expected more from him, something more profound and meaningful, perhaps. As pure entertainment, though, and for style and aura, Where the Truth Lies succeeds admirably. I had read the book before seeing the film, and Bacon and Firth truly nail the characters of Vince Collins (who was Italian-American in the book, but changed to a suave Brit as played by Firth) and Lanny Morris.

The complicated love relationship between the two of them and their use of their celebrity for both good and ill is fascinating. It is too easy for critics to dismiss the film as cheesy film noir when it is so much more than that.
Their breakup as portrayed in the film was as painful as the breakup of any long-term marriage, perhaps more so, as for one of them at least, what lay under the surface had been repressed for so long.

Bacon and Firth give rich, nuanced performances that have been extolled even by those who disliked the film. I've seen the film several times, each time finding something new to admire on different levels. Colin Firth is one of the most gifted and underrated actors of our generation and can say more with facial expressions than most actors can with pages of dialogue. Kevin Bacon delivers a sharp, edgy performance that ranks with his best roles.

I suppose I could comment on the intricate plot, the story told differently through different voices and from different perspectives, but that isn't what made the film so remarkable. "Where the truth lies" is a double entendre, and if you watch and listen carefully, you will enjoy it not only for the entertaining murder mystery, but for what is beneath the surface.

As of this date, it hasn't been in many theaters, but it is worth going out of your way to see. I'm looking forward to the DVD and hope it will be released uncut as Egoyan intended it to be seen.

From the two main leads, I had hoped this film would be good. Unfortunately, it was only engrossing in fits and starts. To begin with, Colin Firth was badly miscast and played his part almost as if sleepwalking. I could get no insight into the man or his motivations. Kevin Bacon was better--and the best part of the movie although not up to his top form. His portrayal of the sleazy Lannie was relatively convincing but he got very little help from the plot or his co-cast members. And Alison Lohman, I'm sorry, was pretty terrible. For someone playing a supposedly junior hot-shot reporter, she was not only slack-jawed and naive appearing, but also irritating. In addition, the plot had her swinging from doe-eyed and innocent admirer to wanton sexual playmate without an iota of believability or back-up character development. The storytelling technique of voice-overs and flashbacks can be effective but in this case I found it primarily confusing and distracting. Overall, what could have been a well-done neo-noir mystery with intriguing twists and turns seemed merely muddy and offputting.

In what seems, at first glance, to be a death defying, jaw-dropping appeal to make himself more marketable to the general public by adapting a novel by the man who wrote and sang the insipid "Pina Colada Song," prodigiously talented director Atom Egoyan ("The Sweet Hereafter," "Ararat") outsmarts and certainly out-directs those that would make him Steven Spielberg by creating an "entertainment" as complex and important as "Laura" and as dizzyingly theatrical as "Memento."
In "Where The Truth Lies," Egoyan takes us to 1972 Hollywood and the story of a now defunct comedy/musical duo, Morris and Collins (a slimy, rat-packish Kevin Bacon and a calm on the surface yet internally whacked-out Colin Firth), the circumstances surrounding their break-up and the mysterious death of a beautiful young woman (a sultry yet prim Rachel Blanchard) being investigated by a young, ambitious reporter/novelist (the excellent Alison Lohman): a death with which Morris and Collins may have or may not have had anything to do.
Egoyan takes this popular entertainment, and like the great directors, Douglas Sirk and Alfred Hitchcock for example, approaches the material as if it is the most important in the world, seriously applying his expert skills, creating an undeniably truthful tone and a point-of-view that transforms this story into one infused with, on the one hand, a world-weary importance and on the other, a hold on to your underpants roller coaster ride.
Both Firth and Bacon do their best at chewing the scenery and attempting to best and upstage each other in all of their scenes together but despite this or maybe because of it, they both come off as prometheanly conflicted and flawed individuals ultimately guilty of only wanting to have a good time and make the most of their stardom and celebrity.
With her quiet, reserved performance, Alison Lohman manages to steal this movie away from both Firth and Bacon: she is an old-soul, with eyes both fierce and limpid and a manner and carriage that speaks volumes with the smallest flick of an eyebrow or a jut of chin.
Not only is there an intellect at work here with all cylinders firing but Egoyan's considerable humanity, awareness and understanding of all things human imbues "Where The Truth Lies" with a warm, sunset-like glow that stays with you long after the last image of the last scene flickers away.

While not on the same lengths as Cronenberg's latest foray, A History of Violence, Atom Egoyan pulls off a decent Canadian feature with this film, and heightens it with a great acting talent of Colin Firth and the man who knows everyone and one of my personal favorite actors (and pincushions), Kevin Bacon.

While the storyline becomes a little convoluted half-way through, the performances and presentation of the film keep up throughout. The dual narration is annoying at first, but becomes acceptable after a few minutes. The presentation of the 1950s settings, and the 1970s settings were done well. While some of the costumes are off in some areas, in others, they are spot-on. It makes you wonder why Oscar skipped over the film (until you watch it all, and then realize why). Alison Lohman is alright here, but she was much better in Matchstick Men, if for only the fact that she looks to young for her own good (and after the things she does, and has done to her in this film, she looks way too young for her own good). For this reason, she has a really hard time carrying the film, and has an even harder time acting against Firth and Bacon. Rachel Blanchard is sadly underused, as is Firth, but the rest of the supporting cast has just enough time needed to stretch.

The film's graphic nude and sex scenes are up to par with Cronenberg, and make an interesting comparison. Were they really attempting to compete, or was it just a subtle irony that both of the films came out over a year ago, and had their first screenings at Cannes? In the end, the whole thing sadly just looks very little in comparison to Violence, and that's the unfortunate thing because they were just destined to be compared.

I know that the NC-17 rating of the film made a big scandal and controversy among fans. While most of the time the rating is all a bunch of bull, quite often movies that lack in the story, acting or budget make up for it in explicit sex scenes (which is what got this film its rating), language or gore, and the plot gets lost somewhere in between all these distractions. I suppose it is all personal taste, and different people love or hate this movie for various reasons. To me, it is a combination of reasons. The only "REALLY" good thing about it was the cast, and as much as I like the actors, they were not enough to save it. But, the film is done averagely well, and deserves a look.

I can usually forgive the complicated story especially when it is about a murder mystery or film noir. That is, if there is something that interests us - dead body, sexy woman, cool detective, or whatever. That `Where the Truth Lies' demands so much suspense of disbelief is already a big problem, but more problematic is that Karen O'Conner (Allison Lohman) is such a boring heroine as young fledging journalist who wants to know the `truths' about the two TV stars doing telethons in the 50s and a dead body of a beautiful woman found in a bathtub. (And Karen disrobes herself - yes, guys, there is nudity, just for the record. So if you're interested in Ms. Lohamn like me, see the uncut version.)

The story itself is intriguing, I admit. (I haven't read the original book by Rupert Holmes, but if you say it is better, I believe it). Young Karen, so desperate to find a big story, approaches two former TV celebrities, Lanny Morris (Kevin Bacon) and Vince Collins (Colin Firth). They were popular vaudevillians, and did a successful telethon on a broadcast during the 50s.

Now the time is 1972, the place, Los Angels. After meeting Vince in person who requires one million dollars, Karen finally gets a chance to read the inside stories written by Lanny, who so far has never told anything about the `unlucky incident' at the hotel. In the meanwhile, she gets a chance to know Lanny personally, and is attracted to him, only to find that the truths are more complicated and dangerous than she thought.

[TOO IMPOSSIBLE] I say again the premise is interesting. But any noir film or any kind of drama using the idea of crime mystery needs meticulously detailed descriptions of characters and situations, but sadly Atom Edoyan must have thought otherwise. We are told that Karen can pretend that she is `Bonnie' (Sonja Bennett) her friend and second-grade teacher, and use Bonnie's room to cover up her identity when she meets Lanny. We are told that Karen is an inexperienced journalist, but somehow she gets a contract worth $ one million. And that's one million dollars in the 70s when Lanny and Vince are now forgotten TV stars in the 50s, not Jerry and Dean. And we must believe that these Lanny and Vince are not only promiscuous (that part I can believe) but also so violent that Vince can beat up a rude audience at backstage. And it is Colin Firth (!) who surely is trying to undo his Darcy image.

But if you have to find the truths about this film, it can be found in poor acting of Allison Lohman. Yes, I wrote, poor. Maybe I should have written `miscast' but I do not actually mind the casting itself very much. But I still think her acting is disappointing, lacking emotional nuances that are essential in letting us know what Karen is feeling at each key scene. This is only my impression, but when Karen feels pride (for her job), joy (for meeting Lanny), fear (for experiencing what I cannot write here), or compassion (for the mother of the dead woman), Karen looks the same all the time. And there is nudity and kissing with another girl (attired in Alice in Wonderland costume). I tried to figure out the meaning of them, but at best they are as deep as the lyrics of Jefferson Airplane songs.

Only reliable Kevin Bacon and the perfect production designs are impressive in `Where the Truth Lies.' The rest of the film is a series of awfully incredible twists and turns of mystery which is in fact a very shallow one.

WHERE THE TRUTH LIES is based on a book by former pop singer Rupert Holmes (PINA COLADA SONG, HIM). When I read the book, I wasn't too impressed so I wasn't sure how to approach the film version. While it's quite different in many ways, the same problem remains: the characters just aren't likeable. We have a comedy team (a la Martin and Lewis) who are merely pillpopping, narcissitic hedonists, and they are implicated in the mysterious death of a young room service girl whom they seduced. Along comes a gungho writer who wants to write a book on why they split and just what happened with the girl. Said writer also happens to be the same young girl appearing on one of their yearly telethons in 1957. The movie is set in 1972, and writer/director Atom Egoyan (THE SWEET HEREAFTER) uses flashback and narrative to tie the two time periods together. The acting is a disappointment: Kevin Bacon as the comic, acerbic Lanny Morris goes from lethargy to almost Rod Steigerish outbursts; Colin Firth gives Vince Collins no energy or soul, and seems merely working; Alison Lohman possesses the naivete of the journalist, but not the maturity needed, particularly in a senseless lesbian liaison with an aspiring singer; David Hayman scores better as Ruben, the loyal "attendant" to Morris. As a character study, it has no real depth; as a mystery, it doesn't focus enough on the motivation and mechanics to be truly mysterious. Although it is somewhat entertaining, it's not a movie that will stay with you very long.

On the recommendation of a writer I know, I sat down with friends to screen the unrated theatrical cut of Atom Egoyen's 2005 film, "Where the Truth Lies" on DVD.

Shuttling back and forth between 1957 and 1972-3, "Where the Truth Lies," tells the story of an young reporter, Karen O'Connor, played by Allison Lohman, who has been contracted to "ghost write" the biography of Vince Collins (a restrained Colin Firth), a semi-retired entertainer turned talent-manager, who once was partnered up in a wildly successful night act with fellow performer, Lanny Morris (an excellent Kevin Bacon), who by the 70's has carved out a career as a producer. O'Connor's publisher, pushes Lohman to dig up the truth behind a mysterious and unsolved 1957 murder of a college student that precipitated the break up of Morris and Collins partnership (very loosely based on the Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis act) fifteen years earlier.

Watching "Where the Truth Lies," (I've seen it twice) I was surprised. This is a film that had been savaged by almost all of the reviewers from the major US news outlets for being too sordid, sex-soaked, and critically hamstrung by the performance of the Lohman' point of view character. Perhaps I'm a bit jaded, but while the film is loaded with sex scenes (five by my count) and the goings on are a bit sordid (we are talking about the excesses of successful performers in the 1950's and the decadent, drug-addled, "free love" hangover era, of the pre-disco 1970's) none of the scenes are gratuitous (except possibly a quick throwaway visual gag early in the film) and serve a function in the narrative. Moreover I though Lohman was utterly believable in her role as the ambitious young reporter, who is desperately trying to break into the "big time" with a major scoop - though the show really belongs to Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth playing the performers at the height of their fame in the '50's and later on, as respectively a producer and a talent manager in the 70's. The narrative is well-shot and well-structured (long before films like "Momento" Egoyan was apioneer at the practice of using flashbacks and slightly surreal shifts between subjective experience and "objective" reality to create emotional resonance in audience, particularly in his earlier films, "Exotica" and "The Sweet Hereafter") and features the clever use of repeating motifs, particularly visual and musical references to "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass," references that are entirely appropriate to the movie's rather adult themes.

I really don't understand why this film was so throughly panned when it first came out: for what it's worth I recommend it, and it easily bears repeat viewings (i've seen it twice so far). [...] Get the unrated cut. There's no point in seeing a censored version.

The interesting thing about the 50's and the early 60's is that our impression of it then and our impression of it now represent two totally differnt pictures. You have Mrs. Cleaver at 7:30 in the morning making bacon and eggs for Ward, Wally and the Beaver, in her heels, stockings and pearls, and you have the menage 'a trois of "Where the Truth Lies."

The parody of Martin & Lewis seems nearly defamatory however possibly with nothing actionable. Atom Egoyan must have had a good staff of libel lawyers on the set. There wasn't anything to hang their hats on. Which was the main problem for me. I couldn't grab on to the movie. There didn't seem to be anything real to engage me.

Kevin Bacon is excellent as one 1/2 of the comedy team that made movies, appeared in night clubs from coast to coast, and held telethons, 36 hours of non stop television to raise money for charitable acts, here a fictitious polio drive. Colin Firth is the 'straight' man, tolerating Kevin's oddness and vulgarity. And the two like eachother a great deal. And after tonight, they separate fprever. Or in the lexicon of the late 50's. 'it's splitsville.'

The remaining cast, the mobster, the valet, the atractive 'inside' reporter, Colin Firth himself, the party girls disrobing or getting dressed, the girlfriend of the reporter, just seem to float through the movie.

The two TV stars have a closing night of their telethon and then have relations with an attractive hotel employee. In the morning she's dead, and her body is found in a different hotel in New Jersey. So that's the whodunit portion of the movie. Why did the girl (Rachel Blanchard) die? Was she murdered? But but by now you're getting so tired of the characters you want to say, whocares?

The movie lacked credibility because of the purposelessness of the characters. But also for the numbing effect of the unbelievability of their conduct. Allison Lohman, the 'journalist,' has been criticized for being miscast. She seems to be a quality actor but she does go from one scene to another without any real passion. She's very atractive but quite wooden.

If this were a book on tape, it would be as if the entire movie were spoken all in monotone. That she gets authority over a 1 Million dollar contract for The Real Story is unbelievable, incredible and silly. She's just starting out, she has no body of work and she's probably 23 years old. What publishing house would do that?

If the film gets "carried," it's carried by Kevin Bacon, who does as much as humanly possible with that script. Atom Egoyan. What were you trying to tell us? Where was the continuity? Where was the coherency? 2 stars. Larry Scantlebury

I read the book, which I thought was terrific and I looked forward to seeing the movie. But US censors made it virtually impossible to view it in a theatre! I suppose because at age 51, I'm not old enough to decide for myself whether a film with nudity will offend me. Jeesh!

I've now seen the movie. Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth were wonderful in their on-camera charming/off-camera icy roles as Vince Collins and Lanny Morris. The women ... just weren't as strong or compelling as I had hoped they would be so that was a bit disappointing.

More disappointing for me was that the script was just too thin to do justice to the story.

That said, because of the censorship issues that plagued this film, I encourage people to buy this film, and then write to the FCC to let them know the purchase is a protest against their stupidly over-protective edicts.