Redwarmin This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Prolabas Deeper than the descriptions

Tacticalin An absolute waste of money

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

smoke0 The book was a very hard read, because the narrator was such a hard-boiled, wise-cracking, quick-witted stereotypical older dame from movies in the '30s, and it was almost impossible to picture her as a young celebrity reporter in the '70s, and putting Alison Lohman in that role didn't help. I could easily see Jessica Chastain believably bringing this impossible character to life, but the job is too much for Lohman; you do not see her thinking, just remembering her lines. Bacon impersonates Jerry Lewis, both old and young versions, without going into caricature, while Colin Firth's character is his own creation, and they carry the film, even though it should be on Lohman's shoulders all the way. It is also difficult for someone not paying full attention to follow the events in the film, and I blame Egoyan for that, as the flow of the story is and should have been crystal clear. I could go on about the anachronisms in the wardrobe of supposedly early '70s fashions, particularly for a young reporter living in LA, but that's minor compared to the major casting error of the film's star. There is still an enthralling story and a good looking film if you are able to suspend disbelief and just go with it, and I believe it improved on the book in several ways, including the ending.

Mcc8007 This gets a 5 only because Firth's and Bacon's performances could make any movie seem good. Still, I'm surprised that actors of their caliber would appear in a movie like this. Their performances were brilliant, but the writing was all over the place with some really dull lines. This movie could have been a whole lot better with a more artful screenplay and someone (ANYONE) other than Allison Lohman playing the lead. She is the most expressionless "actress" I have ever seen. She played the part in this film with the same affect as she used in "White Oleander." It worked in that part, but not in this one. And, the writing. Really? NO writer who was good enough to be given a $1 million story would take drugs with the subject of her book. And the whole airplane "coincidence" was ridiculous.Firth's and Bacon's performances would have made a multi-award-winning movie with a little more attention to script editing and a better actress playing the journalist. Think of how good this movie would have been with Jennifer Lawrence in it.

dick-235-528894 Here's the 30-second pitch: Egoyan tries to do David Lynch doing Raymond Chandler, falls flat on face. Bacon and Firth are excellent, Lohman is terrible, the worst miscasting I've seen for decades. The plot is incomprehensible not because of complexity but rotten editing. The sex is good, and the lobsters deliver.With a better screenplay it could have been a great film in the class of LA Confidential, The Big Sleep or Mulholland Drive - that it fails so comprehensively must cast doubt on Egoyan's ability as a director, since the cast (apart from Alison Lohman) deliver really good performances, and it looks fabulous throughout. It feels to me as if Egoyan's avant-garde past prevented him from engaging with the requirements of a whodunnit plot. I was so confused that I had to look up the plot on my smartphone even while watching the movie, something that I've never, ever done before. That's how much I wanted to like it.

itamarscomix Atom Egoyan fans ofter dismiss Where the Truth Lies as his weakest film, and more jarringly - as his foray into the 'mainstream'. Where the Truth Lies is anything but mainstream, though it noticeably has a bigger budget, larger scope and especially bigger name actors than all his previous films (and only a brief cameo this time around for his wife Arsinée Khanjian). But even though he worked with a Hollywood budget and a Hollywood setting, the film is all Egoyan, and he hasn't given an inch to the American movie machine; beneath the twisting plot there's still his terrific character study and his themes of detachment, displacement and deception.Wherein lies the film's only weakness. The larger scope and more complex plot create an illusion that the plot is what counts, that this is a whodunit murder mystery rather than a character piece; and if that's the only aspect of the film that you pay attention to, you may be disappointed. The final 'reveal', in particular, is a rather weak solution to the mystery, and has been mocked by viewers and film critics. If you consider the ending in the context of the characters and the relationships between them, though, it works pretty well (though it's still probably the weakest element of the film).Seeing as the film is a study of characters and human relations first and foremost, a lot of it hangs on the acting, and Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth both pull amazingly good performances, maybe the best of both their careers (up to, maybe, The King's Speech). Alison Lohman too, whose choice for the role was criticized by some, is fantastic, and proves herself as a serious actress for the first time - her character can be intelligent and restrained or sensual and impulsive, but she's also entirely human. As with every Egoyan film, none of the main characters are one or even two dimensional.Egoyan avoids taking the easy path with the setting too, refusing completely to turn the film into a period piece and rely on 50's and 70's clichés like so many other films with similar settings; instead he gives it its own atmosphere and draws the viewer into a unique experience. Despite its flaws, and partly because of them, Where the Truth Lies is a memorable movie that leaves a strong impression and leaves a lot of room for debate.