Starring Jim Carrey, Jennifer Tilly, Maura Tierney and Amanda Donohoe Directed by Tom Shadyac Rated PG-13, with profanity, breast jokes and other sexual humor Running time 86 minutes Jack gives this film a rating of 7 out of 10

(March 21, 1997) -- If you liked the silly old Jim Carrey, before he showed his dark side in The Cable Guy, Liar Liar is for you.

If you didn't like the old Jim Carrey because he was TOO dumb and silly, Liar Liar may be for you, too.

In Liar Liar, Carrey plays a lawyer whose life goes topsy-turvy when he is forced to tell the truth. The result is a film that is smarter than Dumb and Dumber or the Ace Ventura movies, but sweeter and more ingratiating than the misguided Cable Guy.

In the film, Carrey manages a balancing act that'll please his fans, but also promises to broaden his audience. Fletcher Reede (Carrey) is a fast-talking attorney who knows how to schmooze clients and juries alike. A master of the white lie and the convenient untruth, Fletcher wouldn't know honesty if it bopped him on the head.

Unfortunately, Fletcher not only lies in court and in the office, but also to his son. He is forever promising to be at some event or dinner with his eight-year-old son, Max, only to call with some flimsy excuse for not showing up.

After Fletcher misses his son's birthday party, the sad little boy makes an exasperated wish over his birthday candles: "Make my Dad stop lying for 24 hours." When he blows out the candles, the wish comes true.

And Fletcher's problems begin. If he cannot tell a lie, how can Fletcher expect to win a multimillion-dollar settlement for his client, an oversexed adulteress (Jennifer Tilly) who doesn't deserve one red cent? If he has to tell the truth, how can Fletcher become a partner in a law firm built upon butt-covering and brown-nosing? And if he can't lie to his son and his ex-wife, how can Fletcher continue to avoid taking any responsibility as a father?

But, aha, that's the point of Liar Liar. The script by Paul Guay and Stephen Mazur gets a lot of comic mileage from the sorts of white lies we all tell every day, and the point of the film -- to not let work take precedence over parenting -- is certainly worthwhile.

As Fletcher, Carrey is a bit more restrained and certainly smarter than we've ever seen him. Yet he manages to contribute a lot of manic physical comedy -- including a rather amazing scene in which he beats himself up in a men's room, so he'll look like he was mugged.

Carrey always will be a physical comedian -- body language and movement is at the core of his humor. In Liar Liar, however, he has added a bit more depth and intelligence to the formula.

Liar Liar reunites Carrey with director Tom Shadyac, who made the original Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Shadyac went on to helm The Nutty Professor with Eddie Murphy. Shadyac's work here isn't especially imaginative, but it more than adequately showcases his star.

Among the lackluster supporting actors, the only standouts are Tilly as the bimbo client, and Amanda Donohoe as Fletcher's aggressive, man-eating boss.

The performances by Maura Tierney (as Fletcher's ex-wife) and Justin Cooper (as their boy) are especially bland. I couldn't help but compare them to the wonderful mother and child in Jerry Maguire, and think what a better film Liar Liar would have been with stronger supporting players.

Obviously, the goal was to let Jim carry the movie.

And fortunately, he does.