Where the Truth Lies

Starring classic noir structure to try and unveil the secret behind an incident concealed by two comedy partners, Where the Truth Lies is a riveting film to watch unfold, even if it does make it hard. Kevin Bacon is fantastic in this over-the-top role as the loose and crazy partner, while Colin Firth does a great job as the straight man here. Together, they have great chemistry when they share the screen and even when they do not. This pairing simply works wonders for the film. Much criticism was given to Alison Lohman, but I actually quite liked her. She did fine. Instead of "Where the Truth Lies", this film should be called "Where the Film Dies" because there are more clues pertaining to that than any type of truth. Instead of truth and evidence, we get conjecture and guessing that is implied to be right. If there was evidence, it was lost in the overly convoluted plot structure that adds in multiple narrators and multiple timelines (without making it clear when the time switches). This creates a mishmash of storylines all trying to get out when there is one that we are supposed to be trying to figure out. Instead, they introduce us to numerous different characters who have no bearing on the plot whatsoever. This overplotting and overwriting makes this ultimate ending that much more complexing as we could barely follow the proceeding events, let alone make sense of what led to this ending. Instead of Lohman's character uncovering clues, it felt more like the Atom Egoyan just threw a dart at the wall to decide who was guilty in an attempt to trick the audience. Well, consider me tricked and unappreciative of the fact that this neo-noir erotic thriller missed the mark entirely. I wanted to love Where the Truth Lies, but this thing is such a jumbled mess that it makes it truly impossible.

This movie is the weakest work I have seen from "Atom Egoyan". The film is confused in its narrative, although the topic of the film is so labyrinthine that it can stand until the end. Overall, it is a suitable film for entertainment. The characterization is not good and it seems to be one of those adaptation films where the original source is much better and more attractive than the film. For his fans, this film is influenced by the director of Armenian descent, and his shadow has fallen on the film.