Big Fat Liar

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Big Fat Liar ★★ 2002 (PG)

The boy who cried wolf goes to Hollywood in search of Marty Wolf (Giamatti), the unscrupulous movie producer who stole his short story. As nobody believes his farout tale of being ripped off by Hollywood, notorious liar Jason Shepherd (Muniz) also makes sure to bring along a witness to his pursuit, in the form of his friend Kaylee (Bynes). Pulling an array of inspired pranks, the teens zestfully set about dismantling the sanity of Wolf, to the delight, and sometimes with the aid of, some of his many enemies. Talented smallscreen star Muniz and his costar Bynes make this a likeable, though not especially inspired, broad comedy with Giamatti mugging up a storm. Their romp through Universal Studios, especially, lets you know who's really behind this mostly entertaining movie for the preteen set. 87m/C VHS, DVD . US Frankie Muniz, Paul Giamatti, Amanda Bynes, Amanda Detmer, Donald Adeosun Faison, Lee Majors, Sandra Oh, Russell Hornsby, Christine Tucci, Sean O'Bryan, Amy Hill, Michael Bryan French; D: Shawn Levy; W: Dan Schneider; C: Jonathan Brown.