The Good Liar is a mystery thriller starring Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen. Directed by Bill Condon and adapted by screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher. Adapted from the 2016 best-selling novel by first time author, Nicholas Searle.
Mirren plays a retired, well-off widow, known as Betty McLeish, who is looking for some romantic companionship on a silver-years dating website. Betty finds herself on a lunch date with old charmer, Roy Courtnay (McKellen) who charms her and they enjoy each other’s company. After not knowing each other for very long, Roy moves into Betty's house as a house guest to the disapproval of Betty's grandson, Steven (Russell Tovey). However, Steven has every right to not trust Roy, this is due to Roy being a very good conman, who works with a fake accountant, Vincent (Jim Carter). His cons are to cheat businessmen out of their cash and trick widows out of their savings. Although, this scheme to get Betty's money might not go as smoothly as Roy thinks.
Mirren and McKellen put on incredible performances throughout the entire film. Mirren plays Betty as a woman who has a kind heart and sees the good in people, she wants companionship since she lost her husband. As the film goes on, as an audience we don’t want anything bad to happen to Betty and we don’t want to see her get hurt. However, Betty is a lot stronger than we give her credit for but this due to Mirren's excellent performance and the script, as we are immersed into this vulnerable Betty who may get hurt and then suddenly, we see another side to Betty we don’t realise she even had.
McKellen puts on just as incredible performance as Mirren. These actors work so well together, the chemistry they have is perfect and as an audience we want to see where this relationship will go. McKellen's character Roy is a con artist and fraud but the truth about him may be even darker than we expect. However, we also get sucked into this character and want to know more about him and if he has a conscience, while he sets traps for Betty and the businessmen.
Steven is played by Russell Tovey, Betty's grandson studying a postgraduate and stays with his gran from time to time. From the beginning Steven has misgivings about Roy. Tovey is great as this kind of character; he is looking out for his family and doesn’t want to see her get hurt. Mirren and Tovey have a great relationship when in scenes together, it is really enjoyable to watch. With that being said, whenever Tovey is on the screen his performance is enjoyable to watch. This may have something to do with the fact that many people could relate to him, in the sense of looking out for your family especially grandparents.
Getting to watch Mirren and McKellen act together is a great thing. The Good Liar is a film with lots of different layers that you don’t expect. There is a backstory, set during World War II, which is all about crimes, abuse and survival with a lot of lying involved. This backstory makes this film even darker but gives our characters a history and provides reasons for their actions. Also, what happened during the war, particular events in Betty and Roy's life has shaped the people they have become and we see in this film.
This is a character lead film, so we get to witness some amazing acting from the entire cast. The plot is intriguing, we believe we know what is going on and expect what might happen yet really, we don’t know anything at all. The flashback scenes are really intense yet they work really well. The Good Liar, we think we know who the liar is, yet there is a shocking surprise that makes this film so enjoyable to watch. The ending is bittersweet, we have grown to love Betty and we like Roy, yet their endings are completely different. This is a fantastic film, focused on two characters, everything works in harmony and after you finish watching this film you will feel satisfied in what you have watched.
