49 Fun Facts About Liar Liar

Who directed Liar Liar?

Tom Shadyac. After a 2007 bike crash he gave away much of his fortune and swapped his Los Angeles mansion for a Malibu trailer park.

Liar Liar's writers first built Fletcher's big court case around which crime, before deciding it wasn't funny?

Murder. The writers swapped the killing for a cheating wife chasing half her husband's fortune, a case a comedy could play for laughs.

In Liar Liar, Fletcher tests his curse by trying to say a blue pen is which color?

Red. He strains to say it and shouts 'royal blue' instead, then loses a wrestling match with the pen when he tries to write the lie down.

What does Fletcher call the tickling hand monster he chases Max with in Liar Liar?

The Claw. Audrey's new boyfriend Jerry later tries his own version on Max at the airport, and it falls painfully flat.

Why does Fletcher miss Max's birthday party in Liar Liar?

He is sleeping with his boss. He phones Audrey claiming a problem on a new case, and the broken promise drives Max to make his birthday wish.

In Liar Liar, what happens to Fletcher's car after a traffic cop pulls him over?

It is impounded. He gets it back with a fresh scratch, and when he starts to threaten the attendant the only honest answer he can give is 'Nothing!'

In Liar Liar, Fletcher's client Samantha Cole wants to get around what?

A prenuptial agreement. It cuts her off with nothing if she is unfaithful, and her husband's lawyers have her affair on tape.

In Liar Liar, Fletcher objects to a tape for which honest reason?

It's devastating to my case. The judge overrules him on the spot, and Fletcher, still unable to fib, replies 'Good call!'

In Liar Liar, Audrey considers moving with Max to which city?

Boston. Her boyfriend Jerry has a job waiting there and proposes, and she warns Fletcher that one more broken promise to Max will settle it.

In Liar Liar, Miranda tries to get Fletcher fired by baiting him into insulting whom?

Mr. Allan, a senior partner. Fletcher unloads a string of honest insults, and the boss roars with laughter and says he loves a good roast.

In Liar Liar, where does Fletcher beat himself up in an attempt to delay the trial?

The men's room. The judge offers to adjourn unless Fletcher feels able to continue, and the curse forces him to admit that he does.

What fact lets Fletcher win Samantha Cole's case honestly in Liar Liar?

She married as a minor. Samantha had doctored her age to wed at 17 without her parents' consent, so Fletcher argues the contract she signed was never valid.

After Fletcher wins her case in Liar Liar, what does Samantha Cole go after next?

Custody of the children. Her husband is plainly the devoted parent, and she wants them mainly for the extra child support.

Why is Fletcher held in contempt after the verdict in Liar Liar?

He demands the decision be reversed. Warned he is one word from contempt, Fletcher shouts 'I hold myself in contempt!' and is dragged off to a cell.

Who bails Fletcher out of jail in Liar Liar?

Greta. His honesty had cost him her goodwill earlier that day, but she posted bail after hearing he had gone 'all noble' at the trial.

In Liar Liar, what does Fletcher commandeer at the airport to chase Audrey and Max's plane?

A mobile stairway. He gets the plane to stop, then crashes and ends the chase on a stretcher with both legs broken.

In Liar Liar's final scene, a year on, what does Max say he wished for?

Rollerblades. The lights come up on his parents kissing, so Fletcher assumes Max wished them back together, and gets a flat no.

Jim Carrey pops up at the end of Liar Liar as which of his In Living Color characters?

Fire Marshall Bill. He stands in the crowd of rescue workers behind the lead actors after the runway crash, a background gag that is easy to miss.

In Liar Liar, Fletcher tells a traffic cop that why he was stopped depends on what?

How long you followed me. His exact words are 'Depends on how long you were following me', and he goes on to confess every offence of the drive.

Why does Max's 'unwish' fail to free Fletcher in Liar Liar?

He didn't mean it. Max says he truly meant the birthday wish, but only made the unwish because his dad told him to, so the curse holds.

Which future comedy director did an uncredited rewrite of Liar Liar?

Judd Apatow. A decade before directing Knocked Up he was a regular Jim Carrey collaborator, quietly punching up big studio comedies without taking a credit.

Which British actor was keen to star in Liar Liar before a personal scandal forced him out?

Hugh Grant. He was seriously interested but dropped out in the wake of the Divine Brown scandal, and the script found its way to Jim Carrey instead.

Rumor has it Jim Carrey passed on which 1997 comedy role to make Liar Liar?

Dr. Evil in Austin Powers. Director Jay Roach has dismissed the story as just a rumor, saying Mike Myers always planned to play the villain himself.

Which producer took on the Liar Liar pitch after studios all over Hollywood had rejected it?

Brian Grazer. He happened to be hunting for a movie about a lawyer when the writers dropped by his company for a general meeting, years after shelving the idea.

In Liar Liar, Max tells Fletcher that real beauty is on the inside, quoting whom?

His teacher. Fletcher shoots back that it's 'just something ugly people say', a put-down that slips out while he argues grown-ups sometimes need to lie.

Liar Liar was Universal's second-biggest three-day opener at the time, behind which film?

Jurassic Park. Part of the reason was reach: Universal booked Liar Liar aggressively, opening it in 2,845 theaters at once.

Dragged off to jail in Liar Liar, Fletcher screams that he is which sports star?

Jose Canseco. Fletcher had given Max baseball gear and promised a game of catch that evening, and being locked up means breaking his word again.

Which animated film finally broke Liar Liar's March opening-weekend record in 2002?

Ice Age. Fox had shut its hand-drawn animation studio in 2000 after Titan A.E. flopped, staking its future on computer animation instead, and this hit proved the gamble right.

Liar Liar opened at number one, knocking which 1997 re-release off the top of the chart?

Return of the Jedi. The special edition lost more than half its audience in its second weekend and slid to third, behind a newly opened music biopic.

Which Jennifer Lopez film knocked Liar Liar off the top of the box office after three weeks?

Anaconda. Lopez's biopic Selena had opened in second place behind Liar Liar three weeks earlier, and her giant-snake thriller finally pushed it off the top.

Which film was Jim Carrey already attached to when he made Liar Liar?

The Truman Show. By most accounts director Peter Weir waited a year for Carrey rather than recast, though Liar Liar's writers heard he said yes because Truman's script wasn't ready.

Liar Liar has been likened to an episode of which anthology series, where a haunted car makes a salesman honest?

The Twilight Zone. In the 1961 episode 'The Whole Truth', the salesman ends up palming the cursed car off on Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.

Reviewing Liar Liar, Roger Ebert wrote of a 'suspicion' that Jim Carrey was doing what?

Growing on him. He added 'or perhaps it is a fear' and gave the film three stars, a wry admission from a critic who had called one of the comic's first hits 'a long, unfunny slog'.

In Liar Liar's end-credit outtakes, co-star Swoosie Kurtz ambushes Jim Carrey by shouting which insult?

Overactor! Carrey cracks up mid-scene, Kurtz admits the director put her up to it, and he jokes 'they're onto me'.

For Liar Liar, Jim Carrey received a nomination at the 55th edition of which awards?

The Golden Globes. He was up for best actor in a musical or comedy and lost to Jack Nicholson, who won for As Good as It Gets.

Liar Liar was the second of Jim Carrey's three films with its director; which came first?

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. The 1994 hit made an instant movie star of Carrey, until then best known as a sketch comic on TV's In Living Color.

Which actress, later ER's Abby Lockhart, plays Fletcher's ex-wife Audrey in Liar Liar?

Maura Tierney. When the curse makes Fletcher blurt out 'I'm a bad father', her Audrey answers that he isn't, 'when you show up'.

Who plays Fletcher's gold-digging client Samantha Cole in Liar Liar?

Jennifer Tilly. Already an Oscar nominee for Bullets Over Broadway, she went on to win a World Series of Poker bracelet in the 2005 ladies' event.

Which star of The Princess Bride plays Audrey's new boyfriend Jerry in Liar Liar?

Cary Elwes. He has said the part came by pure chance: he asked Jim Carrey what he was making next, and Carrey floated his name to the director.

Amanda Donohoe, Liar Liar's scheming Miranda, played lawyer C.J. Lamb in the early 1990s on which TV drama?

L.A. Law. In a 1991 episode her character kissed a female colleague, a moment billed at the time as the first lesbian kiss on American television.

Anne Haney, Fletcher's long-suffering secretary in Liar Liar, played a family court supervisor in which 1993 film?

Mrs. Doubtfire. Haney was a late starter who took up commercials and local theater in Atlanta in the 1970s and reached Hollywood only in her mid-forties, after she was widowed in 1980.

In Liar Liar, what legal advice does Fletcher scream at a client who has just robbed an ATM?

Stop breaking the law. The client has knocked over another ATM, this time at knifepoint, and the furious advice is one thing the curse lets Fletcher say, because it is true.

Which Eddie Murphy comedy did Liar Liar's director make the year before?

The Nutty Professor. Makeup artist Rick Baker turned Eddie Murphy into nearly the whole Klump family for its dinner-table scenes, the professor's mother and grandmother included.

In Liar Liar, what spills out of Fletcher's glove box as his final confession to the traffic cop?

Unpaid parking tickets. He has already rattled off every moving violation of the drive when the officer asks 'Is that all?', and he opens the glove box and pleads, 'Be gentle.'

Which writing duo penned the Liar Liar screenplay?

Paul Guay and Stephen Mazur. Mazur has said the idea began as a story about a little kid who promised his grandmother not to lie, before they rebuilt it around an adult.

In Liar Liar, Fletcher's secretary quits after the curse makes him admit the truth about what?

Her raise. He had told her the firm would not allow it for fear of jealousy among the other secretaries, when really he did not want to pay it out of his own pocket.

Which 2003 film was Jim Carrey's third and final collaboration with Liar Liar's director?

Bruce Almighty. It showed God's phone number as a real one instead of a fictional 555 line, and people who shared the digits were swamped with calls asking for God.

Liar Liar was hailed as Jim Carrey's comeback after which 1996 film disappointed?

The Cable Guy. Critics had recoiled from his dark turn as a menacing cable installer, and the likable Liar Liar was greeted as a return to form.

In Liar Liar, what does Fletcher point out to Max after making his runway promise?

The wish had already expired. Max made it at 8:15 the night before and it is now 8:45, so Fletcher could have lied for half an hour and chose honesty anyway.