The plot is plastered with one Hollywood cliche after another, most of which involve precocious kids getting the better of obnoxious adults.
Comment
02/08/02
Rate this Movie 
Big Fat Liar (2002)
43
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work
Reviews Counted:88
Fresh:38
Rotten:50
Average Rating:4.9/10
Consensus: Though there's nothing that offensive about Big Fat Liar, it is filled with Hollywood cliches and cartoonish slapstick, making it strictly for kids.
Theatrical Release:Feb 8, 2002 Wide
Box Office: $47,811,275
Synopsis: An eighth grader named Jason (Frankie Muniz from MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE) presents elaborate excuses for never completing his class assignments. Finally his teacher catches him in one of his worst... [More]
Starring: Frankie Muniz, Amanda Bynes, Paul Giamatti, Isaiah Washington
Director: Shawn Levy
Get This Movie
Reviews for Big Fat Liar
Becomes a progression of increasingly elaborate slapstick stunts, in the brutal, noisy Home Alone vein, in which the complexity of the pranks rarely yields a commensurate comic reward.
02/08/02
Top CriticIn gleefully, thumpingly hyperbolic terms, it covers just about every cliche in the compendium about crass, jaded movie types and the phony baloney movie biz.
02/08/02
Top CriticI'd be the one lying if I said that Muniz and his inspired payback aren't sometimes funny.
02/08/02
One of those films where the characters inhabit that special annex of hell where adults behave like kids, children behave like adults and everyone screams at the top of their lungs no matter what the situation.
02/08/02
The overall effect is less like a children's movie than a recruitment film for future Hollywood sellouts.
02/08/02
What starts off as a satisfying kids flck becomes increasingly implausible as it races through contrived plot points.
02/08/02
Any reasonably creative eighth-grader could have written a more credible script, though with the same number of continuity errors.
02/08/02
Giamatti's gift for neurotic mayhem lifts Big Fat Liar out of the realm of factory-produced children's pictures that preach various life lessons.
02/08/02
Where there's dumb and dumber, there's invariably dumbest, a case in point being Big Fat Liar.
02/08/02
Top CriticThe characters are so smug, that nothing they do seems appealing.
02/08/02
A kid's comedy with plenty of laughs, a sneaky wit and the abundant charm of its teen stars, Frankie Muniz and Amanda Bynes.
02/08/02
Feels at times like a giant commercial for Universal Studios, where much of the action takes place.
02/08/02
The sort of movie that hands critics a dagger and invites them to plunge right in.
02/08/02
Top CriticThe movie's charm is that it has confidence in this goofy story and doesn't push it too hard.
02/08/02
Top CriticPlayfully fun and equally witty, both kids and parents will thoroughly enjoy this one.
02/08/02
A lame collection of dumber-than-dumb gags, the quality of Big Fat Liar is on par with that of the worst television sit-com gorged to four times its normal size.
02/08/02
Top CriticIt's just rather leaden and dull.
02/08/02
Not a whiff of satire is to be found; rather, the excesses and idiocies of Hollywood are celebrated.
02/08/02
It sends a very clear message to young viewers: it's okay to get revenge against someone you don't like.
02/07/02
Latest News for Big Fat Liar
January 31, 2006:
Levy's "Museum" Hires a Few New Staff Members
Zap2it.com reports that British funnyman Ricky Gervais has signed on to appear in Shawn Levy's big-budget, high-concept adventure comedy "Night at the Museum." And to... More...
October 07, 2005:
Sommers Out, Levy In on "Museum"
Since Stephen ("The Mummy") Sommers will be helming the "When Worlds Collide" remake for Paramount, Fox needed someone to step in on their... More...
January 07, 2002:
Muniz, the young star of TV's Malcolm in the Middle, is stuck in the middle again, this time as a student whose class paper has been stolen by a Hollywood producer. 
More...
RT On Current TV
What’s Hot On RT
Fresh Links
Featured
Best Nude Scenes of the Year
Moviefone lists their top ten nude scenes from film in 2009.
Hollywood.com's Best of 2009
Thomas Leupp offers us Hollywood.com's take on the best films of the year.
Best Dozen of the Decade
Last week, MSN gave us their top 09 films. Now see what their favorites of the decade are!
Top 10 Movies of 2009
TIME chimes in with their own list of the best films released this year.
Top 20 of the Decade
Click through to see which movies BuzzSugar placed in their Best-of-Decade list!
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!
RSS Feeds