Product Details

• Actors: Frankie Muniz, Paul Giamatti, Amanda Bynes, Rebecca Corry, Amanda Detmer
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, Full Screen, Live, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: French (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Universal Studios
• DVD Release Date: September 24, 2002
• Run Time: 88 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (91 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000069HZN
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #15,121 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Pitting kids against grown-ups has always been a reliable source of comedy, and Big Fat Liar indulges the "smart kid vs. dumb adult" fantasy with infectious enthusiasm. In this case it's Frankie Muniz from TV's Malcolm in the Middle, playing a Michigan eighth-grader whose penchant for lying results in parental scorn when he claims that a Hollywood movie mogul (ace character actor Paul Giamatti) has stolen the kid's hastily written English essay and turned it into his upcoming summer blockbuster. The kid only wants to prove his honesty and recruits his girlfriend (spunky TV star Amanda Bynes) to beat the honcho on his Hollywood turf. Elaborate practical jokes and slapstick gags turn this kid stuff (scripted and produced by two former child stars) into an enjoyable send-up of Hollywood absurdity. When combined with Giamatti's mastery of slow-burning megalomania, the show-biz in-jokes and Home Alone-style anarchy make this a harmless diversion for the young and young-at-heart. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description
Get ready for big FAT laughs! Featuring Hollywood's hottest teen stars, Frankie Muniz (Malcolm in the Middle) and Nickelodeon's Amanda Bynes, Big Fat Liar is the hilarious revenge comedy filled with nonstop action and laugh-out-loud fun! Fourteen-year-old Jason Shepherd (Muniz) has a reputation for stretching the truth. So, when big-time Hollywood producer Marty Wolf (Paul Giamatti) steals his class paper and turns it into a smash hit movie, no one believes Jason's latest tall tale! On a cross-country adventure to set the record straight, Jason and best friend Kaylee (Bynes) devise a high-tech plan to squeeze the truth out of Wolf through a series of outrageous pranks, crazy stunts and big laughs. It's payback time - BIG TIME!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Suprisingly fun to watch for adults and kids, September 13, 2002

By	Jeffrey Jotz "You'll know him when you find him" (Rahway, NJ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

OK, I only watched this film because it was shown on a recent transcontinental flight, and because I forgot my CD player, this seemed like the best option. I dreaded something out of the pits of Nickelodeon marketing bin, but ended up laughing out loud many times and disturbing my sleeping planemates.

Impressive teen actor Frankie Muniz and veteran Paul Giamatti (who are both perfectly cast in their respective roles) lock horns in classic slapstick style. Unlike the "Home Alone" movies, however, the continuous battle of pranks doesn't get old as the movie rolls along. Giamatti shines as the classic evil Hollywood type, bringing back memories of his magnificent part as Pig Vomit in "Howard Stern: Private Parts." I hate to typecast him, but he plays the role to a perfection.

Amanda Byrnes fills in nicely as the token female 'friend' of Muniz, giving the viewers a taste of gentle teen angst.

Parents, if you have kids between the ages of 10-17, then you'll have a blast watching this movie with them, airplane or no airplane.

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly very good!, February 20, 2002

By	Alec Malczynski (Huntington Beach, California United States) - See all my reviews

At first, my impression on "Big Fat Liar" was that is was nothing more than dumb, Nickelodeon kid-flick; but then I saw it. I was very surprised by how it was very funny and very entertaining. I'm a big Universal Studios fan, and this movie had A LOT of Universal stuff in it, including the imfamous backlot tour and the prop shop.

The story is very famlish, never the less, clever. Jason Shepard (TV's Malcolm in the Middle star Frankie Muniz) is a liar, straight off the bat. He lies constainly about everything, espeacialy with the whole homework excuse "My dog ate it" or "My dad is in the hospital (sniff)". But this time, his assignment was stolen...for real. While trying to get to class, he is acidentally run over (don't worry, parents. The scene is put on a cartoonish note) by a big-shot movie producer, Marty Wolf (Paul Giamatti), who has been known to be a huge jerk to people. Marty offers Jason a ride to school. While the trip, Jason tell Marty about his paper homework due, title "Big Fat Liar", a story about a compulsive liar, who gets bigger each time he lies. While being dropped off, Jason forgets his paper and Marty takes it. A few months later, Jason and his best friend, Kaylee (Nickelodeon's Amanda Byrnes) go to the movies and see a trailer for a movie called "Big Fat Liar", which immediately makes Jason furious. While Jason's parents are gone on vacation fo the summer, Jason and Kaylee take a trip to Los Angeles to find Wolf and get down to business. Along the way, they befriend a actor-turned-limo driver, named Frank (Donald Adeosun Faison) and Marty's partner at the studio, Monty Kirkham (Amanda Detmer). While Jason and Kaylee find shelter at Universal Studio's Prop shop, Jason Persues in finding Marty and getting either revenge or an appology. During a rude encounter with Marty, Jason decides Vengence...all the way. He and Kaylee form together all the people Wolf has been mean to and plot a payback to ge Marty out of Business,for good.

One thing I liked about this movie was how it took place at Universal Studios Hollywood 75% of the time, aside from the obious (Monty, in one scene, is walking and talking on her cell phone in front of the Bates Motel House) there is the scene in the prop shop, were the kids shack up, where pieces of recent Universal films, such as "The Grinch", are left laying around, along with the DeLorean from "Back to the Future" shown everywhere and the constant showing of the Universal Backlot Tour trams driving by (I love how in one scene, Jason and Kaylee leap off a tram to see something: keep in mind that you could never do that in real life!). BIG FAT LIAR is a great family film, but better for kids. And it's the thing Universal fans, like me, been waiting for.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very enjoyable movie, May 28, 2006

By	Johnny B. Good (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Big Fat Liar [Region 2] (DVD)

A very enjoyable way to pass a couple of hours. This is not a back handed compliment in any way but my 5 year old was glued to the screen and at his age he's not supposed to understand all the nuances of a movie, but this movie is so simple and direct that he had no problem following it, way past his bedtime too.

It's a hark back to the times when good guys were good guys and bad guys were bad guys and you definitely tell who was who (no silly de rigeur twists). An over the top acting job for Wolfy but the character asks for no other. Nice to see Lee Majors, as a stuntman no less, no doubt many will miss the significance of that. And the wunderful(sic) Donald Faison before Scrubs.

Overall, very enjoyable for the younger and older viewers. (You see, I don't know who Amanda Byrnes and Frankie Munoz are.)