‘Should have garnered the actor an Oscar’: why Liar Liar is my feelgood movie

The latest in our series of writers paying tribute to the films they watch when they need a lift is an appreciation of Jim Carrey’s manic 90s comedy

To be completely honest, whenever anybody asks what my favorite movies are, my list has some typical standbys: Goodfellas and It’s a Wonderful Life among them. The holiday classic National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is another. But there’s one feelgood fave on my list that always surprises people: Jim Carrey’s 1997 blockbuster Liar Liar.

The movie (for the lack of a better word) lies on the bedrock of a simple premise: a lawyer and doting father is physically unable to tell an untruth due to a birthday wish. In the hands of a less competent creative team and cast, Liar Liar would have been yet another forgettable piece of 90s comedy junk; destined for the bottom of a discount VHS bin, forgotten as the years trudged on. But largely thanks to an unbelievable performance courtesy of Carrey, who was working with a smart and peppy script, the film thusly ascends into rarefied air.