Advertisement
The Lie Movie Review Rating: 3.5/5 Stars (Three and half stars)
Star Cast: Peter Sarsgaard, Joey King, Cas Anvar, Mireille Enos, Devery Jacobs
Advertisement
Director: Veena Sud
Advertisement
What’s Good: It’s a good thriller that’s and the duration is just 95 minutes.
What’s Bad: There are not enough twists to shock your senses.
Loo Break: You can take one if it’s nature’s call because you won’t miss anything crucial.
Watch or Not?: Watch it if you are in a mood for a good suspense thriller.
User Rating:
The story is about a divorced couple, Rebecca and Jay and their 15-year-old daughter Kayla. One day, on their way to Ballet classes, Jay and Kayla provide a lift to one of her friends, Brittany (Devery Jacobs). In the car, Brit makes the two uncomfortable by asking strange questions. Brit makes Jay and Kayla stop the car nowhere amid the snowclad town as she wants to pee. What happens further is a series of unfortunate events.
When Kayla and Brit walk away from the car to find a spot to pee, they go to a bridge alongside a huge waterfall. As they don’t return for a long time, Jay gets out of his car looking for his daughter and her friend. However, he hears Kayla screaming and finds her sitting at the edge of the bridge. That’s when Kayla tells him she pushed Brit because she was being a b*tch to her. Despite searching for Britt in the water, Jay gets no trace of her. When Rebecca finds out what her daughter did, she is shaken to the core. However, the ex-couple doesn’t want their daughter to land in prison. So as parents, they do everything they can to protect her.
On the other hand, Brittany’s father Sam (Cas Anvar) is looking for his daughter. He also grows suspicious of Kayla and her family. Sounds similar to Chris Evans, Michelle Dockery and Jaedan Martell’s Defending Jacob, isn’t it? Well, there’s more to shock you.
Director Veena Sud is also the writer of The Lie. Sud is very clear of what she wants to tell us. A tragic story of a teenager who is dealing with some issues and a divorced couple who will go to any length to protect their child. But throughout the story, she gave a n*ked presentation of the emotions Rebecca, Jay and Kayla were going through. With videos and pictures of Kayla’s childhood, in the beginning, we are shown how happy they were when they were together. The scene then cuts to present showing us a tense mood when Rebecca drops Kayla to Jay so he could take her to the Ballet sessions. In the 15 minutes, we sense things are not healthy between them.
But this one unfortunate incident scares the hell out of both Jay and Rebecca. Jay, who has a carefree personality makes sure to think logically and avoid any doubts that would come to his daughter’s way. The immediate change in his personality proves what a father can do. On the other hand, Rebecca, a big shot corporate lawyer is terrified and becomes overprotective of her daughter. On the other hand, Kayla is shown as a teenager who appears depressed because of her parents’ separation. There is an immediate switch in her personality – from happy to outburst of emotions. To know what happens next, you get hooked to the story.
I’ve seen Joey King in The Kissing Booth movies and she’s marvellous in them. However, in The Lie, she has to play a character that’s a puzzle and has display complex emotions. She’s terrific throughout the movie.
Peter Sarsgaard and Mireille Enos do a phenomenal job as Jay and Rebecca. They have managed to bring on to the platter every possible emotion, fear, and thought a parent would go through in a similar situation.
Cas Anvar and Devery Jacobs play a good part as supporting characters.
The thing about shooting in snowclad locations is it will either look pleasing to the eyes or scary AF. Veena Sud did the latter in The Lie. It was a brilliant idea to set the story amidst the snow because the weather adds the required tension to the story and show fears of the character with more prominence. People who’ve watched I’m Thinking of Ending Things will understand this better!
The movie had the potential to get predictable if it was stretched longer. But as I mentioned earlier, Sud was clear about the story she wants to tell us. However, one hopes for more and more twists in a suspense thriller. The movie lacks them and is quite disappointing.
In terms of music, it doesn’t have much of an impact. There are two songs which don’t play any big role in the story-telling. The song ‘What do you say’ that is played in the beginning is a bit catchy.
Overall, The Lie is a good watch. It isn’t unnecessary lengthy, has sharp writing and excellent performances. While a few things get predictable, it’s the climax that blows away your mind!
Three and a half stars!
The Lie releases on 06th October, 2020.
Share with us your experience of watching The Lie.
Must Read: Serious Men Movie Review: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sudhir Mishra – Genius Men At Work!
Follow Us: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Youtube
Advertisement
Advertisement
