I was hoping this film would live up to the high standard set by the first two Atom Egoyan films I'd seen, The Sweet Hereafter and Felicia's Journey; but unfortunately, Where the Truth Lies is a film with bags of style, but almost nothing in terms of substance and despite a focus on characters; the film feels very flat and pointless by the time the conclusion to the sophomoric mystery plot is finally revealed. The film focuses on the partnership between Lanny and Vince; a pair of comedians that were a huge success back in the fifties (kind of like a smarter, American version of Ant and Dec). Their partnership ended fifteen years ago, and sexy female journalist Karen O'Connor decides to research the life of one of the partners, and get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding the death of a young girl whose body was found in the bathtub of the partners' hotel room on the night after a big TV show that the couple were doing.
This film isn't a complete loss, and that is thanks to the way in which it is filmed. Atom Egoyan seems to have been trying to capture a classic film noir style, and he succeeds somewhat; although the dark picture has been discarded in favour of beautiful bright colours. Egoyan relishes in capturing the beauty of his lead actress Alison Lohman, mostly through the movement of her lavish head of red hair. She is joined by the insanely talented Kevin Bacon, who isn't forced to give his best performance; but adequately gets through the film. Colin Firth rounds off the central cast, and does a good job of capturing the sleazy nature of his character. The old-fashioned style of the film is interesting at first, but this isn't kept up until the end, and I was getting more than a little tired of it before the film ended. The ending is something of a non-event, and the film feels like it should have a far more sophisticated conclusion considering the nature and style of the production. Where the Truth Lies has a number of memorable sequences; the (underdone) lesbian sequence chief among them, but there isn't enough positive elements to ensure that Where the Truth Lies will be remembered as anything other than an interesting failure.
This film isn't a complete loss, and that is thanks to the way in which it is filmed. Atom Egoyan seems to have been trying to capture a classic film noir style, and he succeeds somewhat; although the dark picture has been discarded in favour of beautiful bright colours. Egoyan relishes in capturing the beauty of his lead actress Alison Lohman, mostly through the movement of her lavish head of red hair. She is joined by the insanely talented Kevin Bacon, who isn't forced to give his best performance; but adequately gets through the film. Colin Firth rounds off the central cast, and does a good job of capturing the sleazy nature of his character. The old-fashioned style of the film is interesting at first, but this isn't kept up until the end, and I was getting more than a little tired of it before the film ended. The ending is something of a non-event, and the film feels like it should have a far more sophisticated conclusion considering the nature and style of the production. Where the Truth Lies has a number of memorable sequences; the (underdone) lesbian sequence chief among them, but there isn't enough positive elements to ensure that Where the Truth Lies will be remembered as anything other than an interesting failure.