The Good Liar 2019

     Roy Courtnay is a career con artist.  He can hardly believe his luck when he meets well-to-do widow Betty McLeish on-line.  As Betty opens her home and life to him, Roy is surprised that he begins to care for her.  This turns what should be a cut-and-dry swindle into the most treacherous tightrope walk of his life.  There is terrific energy and dash.  The flashback sequences show that it’s actually more daring and ambitious than you expect.  There is an unexpected duel between Roy and Betty. 

     This is a fraud and scam drama about a con man and his target.  You can quickly see that Roy has insincere intentions.  When he is not charming Betty, he is being physically violent with an adversary.  The violence feels more extreme than the movie calls for.  Some brutal altercations and some deaths.  Betty is very astute and she has self control.  She sets sexual boundaries despite Roy’s efforts to persuade her otherwise.  There is an assault and a rape plus very few scenes are without drinking (wine, champagne, scotch, etc.) with something always on the table or in the hand of an adult.  Profanity isn’t frequent but it is harsh when it is used!!  The two lead actors do a very good job in their roles.  There are twists and turns that I didn't expect!!  5* (I really liked this movie) 

109 min, Crime directed by Bill Condon and written by Jeffrey Hatcher. This film is based on a novel written by Nicholas Searle with Helen Mirren, Ian McKellen, Russell Tovey, Jim Carter, Mark Lewis Jones, Laurie Davidson, Phil Dunster, Lucian Msamati, Johannes Haukur Johannesson, Tunji Kasim, Spike White, Stella Stocker, Daniel Betts, Nell Williams, Celine Buckens.


Note:  Imdb 6.6 out of 10 with 18,683 reviews, Roger Ebert 2 1/2* Peter Sobcznski, Rotten Tomatoes 63% with 160 critics, 85% audience with 3837 ratings, The Guardian 3* out of 5* Wendy Ide, SF Chronicle a clap Mick LaSalle, Common Sense Media Tara mcNamara, age 15+, 2* positive messages, 3*role models, 4* violence, 4* sex, 4* language, 1* consumerism, 3* drinking drugs & smoking, Metacritic 55 out of 100 with 31 critic reviews (positive 15, mixed 15, negative 1), 5.2 out of 10 with user 50 scores (positive 16 , mixed 24, negative 10), Amazon 4.4* out of 5* with 2786 reviews, Letterboxd 3* out of 5*.

Special Note:  The Charing Cross station used in this movie is actually the closed Charing Cross station on the Jubilee Line and it was also used in Skyfall 2012.  This is the first time Helen Mirren has worked with Ian McKellen.  While Roy and Betty are at the Slough railway station, a train in a partly purple livery speeds through.  This is one of the new Elizabeth line trains (late 2019) running experimentally and did not exist in 2009, the setting of this film.  Roy leaves on a GWR branded train, in 2009 this would have had a First Great Western livery.  The GWR brand didn’t return until 2015.