Synopsis
Career con man Roy sets his sights on his latest mark: recently widowed Betty, worth millions. And he means to take it all. But as the two draw closer, what should have been another simple swindle takes on the ultimate stakes.
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Cast
- Helen MirrenBetty McLeish
- Ian McKellenRoy Courtnay
- Russell ToveySteven
- Jim CarterVincent
- Mark Lewis JonesBryn
- Laurie DavidsonHans Taub (1948)
- Phil DunsterRoy Courtnay (1948)
- Lucian MsamatiBeni
- Jóhannes Haukur JóhannessonVlad
- Tunji KasimMichael
Recommendations
- 80
Variety
The pleasure of The Good Liar, and it’s a major one, is the chance to watch Mirren and McKellen act together in a cat-and-mouse duet that turns into an elegant waltz of affection and deception. - 80
The Guardian
This movie rattles along with terrific energy and dash and the flashback sequences show that it’s actually far more daring and ambitious that you might expect. It’s a great duel between McKellen and Mirren. - 75
San Francisco Chronicle
The back and forth, the listening and reacting between Mirren and McKellen, as each of their characters gauges the other and as we mark the incremental shifts and exchanges of power, is pure pleasure. - 67
IndieWire
Pleasant and preposterous in almost precisely equal measure, the film never offers anything less than two all-time British actors having the time of their lives, which makes it hard to get frustrated that it seldom offers anything more. - 63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
A con-artist movie that is something of a con itself. - 60
Empire
McKellen and Mirren, sharing the screen for the first time, are exquisitely matched in this slight but enjoyable yarn, which is like watching two magnificent vintage cars in a road race, without minding too much who wins. - 50
The Hollywood Reporter
For all its nasty twists and turns, its fake-outs and flashbacks and pile-up of double-crosses, this story of an elderly con man and the wealthy widow he targets feels fatally devoid of danger. Square, tame and tidy as the London-area house kept by Mirren’s primly elegant, creamy-complexioned septuagenarian, The Good Liar is a work of skill but little spark. - 40
TheWrap
The Good Liar really wants to be either a thriller or a caper. Unfortunately, it has neither the excitement necessary for the former nor the fun required of the latter.
