Jim Carrey’s best comedy suffers only from a cloying excess of sweetness. He tackles his straightest role, that of attorney, and compulsive liar, Fletcher Reede. His knack for twisting the truth may win him partnership at his law office, but has cost him his wife, Audrey (Maura Tierney), and is losing him the love of his son, Max (Justin Cooper). In fact, when he misses his son’s birthday party after a solemn promise to be there, Fletcher discovers his son has given him a curse with his birthday wish: for 24 hours, he is physically incapable of lying. This, of course, would be a disadvantage to any adult, but to Fletcher, it proves to be a disaster. This is where Carrey’s rubberfaced talents come into play full force. The agonizing contortions he goes through attempting to lie are nearly as funny as the effects of the bitter truth itself. Surprisingly for a film with a one joke premise, all the good bits haven’t been thoroughly exhausted in the previews, and Liar Liar is able to maintain a good comic clip throughout its duration. Liar Liar only errs when it drifts into the realms of sitcom sweetness. The bond between Fletcher and son has been lifted out of countless kiddie films, and lacks the edge present in the rest of the film. Still, while those scenes are rather standard and predictable, there’s enough humor in the rest of the film to make Liar Liar a good watch. Trust me.