Tropedia

  • Before making a single edit, Tropedia EXPECTS our site policy and manual of style to be followed. Failure to do so may result in deletion of contributions and blocks of users who refuse to learn to do so. Our policies can be reviewed here.
  • All images MUST now have proper attribution, those who neglect to assign at least the "fair use" licensing to an image may have it deleted. All new pages should use the preloadable templates feature on the edit page to add the appropriate basic page markup. Pages that don't do this will be subject to deletion, with or without explanation.
  • All new trope pages will be made with the "Trope Workshop" found on the "Troper Tools" menu and worked on until they have at least three examples. The Trope workshop specific templates can then be removed and it will be regarded as a regular trope page after being moved to the Main namespace. THIS SHOULD BE WORKING NOW, REPORT ANY ISSUES TO Janna2000, SelfCloak or RRabbit42. DON'T MAKE PAGES MANUALLY UNLESS A TEMPLATE IS BROKEN, AND REPORT IT THAT IS THE CASE. PAGES WILL BE DELETED OTHERWISE IF THEY ARE MISSING BASIC MARKUP.

READ MORE

Tropedia
Register
Advertisement
Farm-Fresh balanceYMMVTransmit blueRadarWikEd fancyquotesQuotes • (Emoticon happyFunnyHeartHeartwarmingSilk award star gold 3Awesome) • RefridgeratorFridgeGroupCharactersScript editFanfic RecsSkull0Nightmare FuelRsz 1rsz 2rsz 1shout-out iconShout OutMagnifierPlotGota iconoTear JerkerBug-silkHeadscratchersHelpTriviaWMGFilmRoll-smallRecapRainbowHo YayPhoto linkImage LinksNyan-Cat-OriginalMemesHaiku-wide-iconHaikuLaconicLibrary science symbol SourceSetting
File:Bigfatlair.jpg

Big Fat Liar is a 2002 kid's film starring Frankie Muniz as a 14-year-old Jason Shepherd and Amanda Bynes as 14-year-old Kaylee. Very over-the-top, although what can you expect from writer Dan Schneider.

In a modern-day retelling of the Boy Who Cried Wolf, Jason Shepherd is a Big Fat Liar who lies all the time to everyone. Then a greedy movie director- Marty Wolf- steals his creative writing essay to use it as the basis for his next blockbuster, and no-one will believe Jason when he explains what happened. Thus, Jason decides that the only way to convince everyone that he's being honest is to sneak off to L.A. with his friend Kaylee and inflict a series of increasingly harmful pranks on Wolff until he has a nervous breakdown and confesses. Hilarity Ensues.

It got 44% rotten on Rotten Tomatoes, but surprisingly received 3 stars from Roger Ebert.

Tropes used in Big Fat Liar include:
Cquote1

"How many times have I told you not to call me "Urkel?!" My name is Jaleel White!"

Cquote2
  • In a World: Parodied in the BFL Trailer.
  • Ironic Echo: "12 camera angles with birds flying around..."
  • Jacob Marley Warning: Marty represents what would happen to Jason if he kept lying to others - his entire life would fall apart.
  • Jerkass: Marty Wolf should be a 7-letter word.
  • Jerk Jock: Bret Calloway.
  • Kitsch Collection: The secretary's tacky stuffed dog collection.
  • Large Ham: Paul Giamatti really enjoyed himself making this movie.
  • Late for School: The opening.
  • Locking MacGyver in the Store Cupboard: Once he captures Jason and Kaylee, Wolf sends them back to the prop warehouse to pack for their flight home. The same warehouse where they previously got every tool they'd used against him so far....
  • Massive Multiplayer Scam: emphasis on Massive.
  • Mean Boss: Marty Wolf. It's implied to be the reason why his movies haven't turned out well as of late.
  • Meaningful Name: Perpetual liar Jason Shepherd has his English paper stolen by Marty and, of course, Jason isn't believed when he explains this. Note: Their last names refer to Aesop's fable the Boy Who Cried Wolf.
  • Metaphorgotten:
Cquote1

Kaylee: I wanna see a broken man, people. I mean, broken as in, "I hit a baseball through the window" broken. I want you to turn him into mince meat, and I don't even know what mince meat is! I want him to cry for his mommy! "Wah! Wah! Mommy, mommy, mommy!" Do you read me?! 'Cause I don't think you read me!

Cquote2
  • Mexican Standoff
  • The Nicknamer: Marty Wolf, and none of them are flowery at all.
  • "No Respect" Guy: Anyone who works for Marty. Just pick 1 person.
    • Rocko Malone, the security guy?
  • Obsolete Mentor: Poor "Gramps".
  • The Oner: Jaleel White's intro scene. The deleted scenes reel has an even longer version.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: Bret as Kaylee, although justified, considering Grandma Pearl is half-blind.
  • Pet the Dog: While Marty is far from being a nice person, he at least has the decency to offer Shepherd a ride to school. Incidentally, this gives him an opportunity to save his career when he discovers Jason’s paper, which turns out to be a great idea for a film. Unfortunately, in his arrogance, he decides to steal all the credit and that’s where all the trouble begins.
  • Platonic Life Partners: Jason and Kaylee
  • Refuge in Audacity: Like any director would steal creative writing from some kid's backpack and turn it into his next big movie...
  • Sarcastic Confession: Which is a engineered public confession.
  • Slow Motion Drop: Parodied in the movie trailer of the movie-in-a-movie Big Fat Liar
  • Stealth Pun: Jason always lies until he finally tells the truth that someone stole his paper, and no one believes him. The thief? Director Marty Wolf. Jason is the Boy Who Cried Wolf, literally.
  • Stern Teacher: Mrs. Phyllis Caldwell, Jason's English teacher.
  • Surrogate Soliloquy: Marty with Mr. Funnybones.
  • Throw It In: Most of Kaylee's gags were ad-libbed.
  • Two Words: Obvious Trope: Parodied in the awful movie-in-a-movie Whittaker and Fowl:
Cquote1

Listen Whitaker, I am not your father and I'm not your priest I got two words for you: shut the heck up! You talk way too much... can we cut?

Cquote2
Cquote1

Marty: Yeah, I stole your story, whoop-de-doodle-do! I STOLE JASON SHEPARD'S STORY AND TURNED IT INTO BIG FAT LIAR! Do you know who's listening? Nobody and get used to it. Because I will never-ever-never-ever-ever-ever-ever-infinity tell the truth!

Cquote2
Advertisement