Where the Truth Lies (Rated Edition) | 
 enlarge | Director: Atom Egoyan
Actors: Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth, Alison Lohman, David Hayman, Rachel Blanchard
Studio: THINKFilm
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.94
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $14.93 (100%)
New (35) Used (37) from $0.01
Rating:  50 reviews
Sales Rank: 61468
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 107
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: COLD13119D
UPC: 043396131194
EAN: 0043396131194
ASIN: B000DZ853Q
Theatrical Release Date: 2005
Release Date: February 28, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Director Atom Egoyan's 2005 film Where the Truth Lies is laden with nudity, sex, violence, lies, blackmail, betrayal… and really, what more could you want? Other than some genuine tension, a more compelling story, and better acting, that is. In adapting Rupert Holmes' novel, the Cairo-born Egoyan (Ararat, Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter) has taken on a murder mystery with film noir elements that will leave many viewers wondering exactly "whodunit" until the final few scenes; and while that's surely a good thing, the ride itself simply isn't all that scintillating. Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth star as a (Dean) Martin & (Jerry) Lewis-style team whose principal talents seem to consist mainly of pill-popping, soulless sex with a stream of nubile young women, and hosting an annual polio telethon. Fifteen years after their '50s heyday, journalist Karen O'Connor (Alison Lohman), who appeared on the telethon as a child, seeks out the pair to determine why they split up and, not coincidentally, what really happened to the dead girl with whom they had dallied the night before. Bacon is reasonably unctuous as the leering Lanny Morris; but Firth is uninspired as the more elusive Vince Collins, and although Lohman is game, she sometimes seems out of her depth in a role that calls for her to both seduce and be seduced, to manipulate and be manipulated. Egoyan, who also wrote the screenplay, has an eye for odd little details (much is made of Pan Am's first class dinner service, for instance) and an ear for great music (the soundtrack includes tunes by Charles Mingus, Louis Prima, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, and Funkadelic) and good dialogue ("Having to be a nice guy is the toughest job in the world when you're not"). But the film is curiously tepid; the sex is unconvincing, the mystery lacks a sense of danger, and the resolution is hardly shocking. One wishes that, having dipped into this genre, Egoyan had gone all out and made a film as delightfully sleazy as, say, Basic Instinct. --Sam Graham
Product Description
Shifting effortlessly between the mob-run clubs of the 50s to the glamorous hollywood hills mansions of the 70s this tense & suspenseful mystery follows a young journalist as she attempts to uncover the truth behind a long-forgotten scandal that affected the lives & careers of a celebrated comedy team. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 04/24/2007 Starring: Alison Lohman Kevin Bacon Run time: 107 minutes Rating: R
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 45 more reviews...
 What A Mess December 15, 2008
I just finished reading "Where the Truth Lies" and I loved it from start to finish, so I decided to waste my money because I couldn't find it at the local video store and bought it. Now I know why no one keeps it around to rent, because it was outright awful. This is a perfect example of how an excellent book can be destroyed by a film maker.
From start to finish I barely recognized the story and the characters, not to mention some of the most memorable characters in the book not even being mentioned in this film. What was Rupert Holmes thinking when he sold the rights to this producer, or better yet, did Atom Egoyan even read the book?
I'm a big fan of Kevin Bacon and a bigger fan of Colin Firth, but what were they thinking when they signed on to do this bomb? As Vince Collins (Colin Firth) said several times in both the movie and the book "I'm doing this because I need the money" and I truly wonder if that was the real reason. I felt real compassion and really liked the Vince Collins character in the book, what happened to him in this movie? And Kevin Bacon even fell short and lacked the fire that made his character, Lanny Morris, what he truly was in the book.
And who's brillant idea was it to cast Allison Lohman in this stinker? She was to young for this role and I just didn't buy any of her performance.
It would have been nice to see what a director like Clint Eastwood, Ron Howard or Martin Scorsese could have done with this material. What a shame to take a great novel and destroy it like this.
 A Baffling Low-Key Mystery October 1, 2008
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: From the Secret Files of Harry Pennypacker
Shadow Watcher
Nobody Drowns in Mineral Lake
Like his critically acclaimed THE SWEET HEREAFTER, this engrossing film from writer-director Atom Egoyan is a baffling low-key mystery with a surprising, equally quiet, ending.
Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth play a Martin & Lewis-like comedy team that, back in the 1950s, was one of the most successful acts in show business. Then, a beautiful woman was found dead in their hotel suite and, though nobody was ever charged in her death, the team broke up soon thereafter.
Jumping ahead to the 1970s, a young, attractive journalist (Alison Lohman) has a major book deal that will pay Firth a million dollars if he will talk about his relationship with Bacon and, in particular, the murder. Eager to do the book, Lohman gets close...perhaps too close...to both men, which opens some old wounds that leads to violence and, ultimately, the solution to the mystery.
I really liked this movie. It kept me guessing right up until the satisfying conclusion.
Bacon continues to deliver stand-out performances. One of these days, he's going to win himself an Oscar.
Michael B. Druxman, author of ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD
Buried Treasure July 13, 2008
My wife and I were perusing the aisles of HMV looking for bargains. She was looking in the $3.99 bin while I was checking out the second hand offerings. My wife found "Swept Away" and because of her undying allegiance to Madonna I bit my tongue. She waved a copy of this film and I was intrigued not because of the presence of Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth but why I never heard of it. I was further intrigued by the fact that the film was directed by Atom Egoyan who made one of the great films of the nineties, "The Sweet Hereafter". The film just blew me away. Ostensibly the film is about the mysterious appearance of a dead hotel employee in the bathtub of famed fifties comics Lanny Morris(Bacon) and Vince Collins(Firth). For sure the mystery surrounding the possible murder of the girl is explored. The film also wants to delve into the nature of the relationship between Morris and Collins. Onstage Morris is Peck's Bad Boy to Collins' straight man. Offstage the relationship is a little more complex. Both Bacon and Firth are excellent but kudos should also go to Alison Lohman as a writer who is trying to unravel the mystery surrounding the girl's death but also the subsequent breakup of Morris and Collins act. Lohman's Karen O'Hara is more than a disinterested third party but also has a tenuous relationship to the duo. Saying much more about the film would give away too much. If you can find this flick in the bargain bin (or otherwise) plop down the bucks for it.
 Alison Lohman Rocks! July 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Alison Lohman's performances always captivate me. The film itself was good (not great). I would've liked to have seen more humor whenever the two comedians were in public (on stage, in a restaurant, on a street). I believe by having much more silly, always leave 'em laughing personas in public (usually accompanied with humility & incredible compassion) would've made the juxtaposition with their truer, darker, all-consuming narcissism all the more striking. And by having film protagonists full of extreme internal contradictions would've made this film completely compelling in every second, leaving the audiences forever guessing which is the real person beneath the masks, building to an bigger surprise ending.
Save your money May 26, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Tepid, predictable, and boring. It's astounding that Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth could be in a movie this bad.
|
|
|
