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.

treeline1 The story opens in 1957, when Lenny Morris (Kevin Bacon) and Vince Collins (Colin Firth), a famous Martin and Lewis-type act, are hosting a telethon. That night, a dead woman is found in their hotel room and the team breaks up under a cloud of suspicion. Fifteen years later, a young journalist (Alison Lohman) wants to interview Collins for a book and begins to probe the mysterious death.Bacon and Firth are both fine actors, but they are wasted in this terrible film. Alison Lohman is the main character and she's completely wrong for the part of a savvy young writer; she acts like a high school girl and looks so much like Amy Adams I was distracted and wishing Adams had done the part. She is timid and childish in all of her scenes and just isn't strong enough to carry the film. Firth tries to play against his charmer-image as a pill-popper, but I didn't believe him for a minute; he seems to be sleepwalking through the movie. Bacon is good as his slimy, heartless partner, but his character is so odious I cringed whenever he was on the screen.The director apparently thought this was a seductive, sophisticated mystery and used lots of moody film-noir music to try to heighten the drama, but nothing works. The story uses confusing flashbacks every few minutes and I never knew what was going on until the end and then I didn't care. A surprisingly bad and unpleasant movie with unnecessarily graphic sexuality.

sergepesic Oh, what a difference bad casting decision can make. " Where the truth lies" had such a great potential. Two very strong leading actors, Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth, intriguing story, creative director, but... The catastrophic acting of Alison Lohman sabotaged the whole thing. The utter lack of artistic presence, wobbly, girlish voice, completely at odds with the part. There are thousands of talented young actresses, and why in the world would you cast her. There was no saving this movie after that bad decision. Two leading protagonists were doing their very best, lovely camera work brought us back to the times long gone. But to no avail.What a shame.

blanche-2 Alison Lohman is a young journalist trying to find out "Where the Truth Lies" in this 2005 film starring Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth and Maury Chaykin. Bacon and Firth are a kind of Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis team, and a dead girl is found in one of their hotel suites. Karen (Lohman) is to assist part of the act, Vince (Firth) in writing his memoirs years later. She has a hidden agenda, which is to learn how Maureen Flaherty, a maid in a Las Vegas hotel, was found dead in a New Jersey hotel suite all those years ago.As a film, this left me pretty cold; indeed, everything about it is cold, including some very good performances from Bacon and Firth. Nothing warmed up the camera, though. Alison Lohman was so bad she was laughable. I had very little interest in whodunit or why because I didn't care about anyone.There's lots of sex, nudity and drug-taking, and I frankly didn't realize this was a controversial part of the film. I agree that an R rating would have been fine. I'm sure the guys loved it.I'm always amazed that when a film is this bad, how people go out of their way to declare it a master of film-making. Where the Truth Lies reminded me of Leaving Las Vegas - terrible.