Big Fat Liar

Giamatti's odious shlock merchant and the precociously adept Muniz are well pitted...

A confounding mix of the brilliant and the bollocks, part Sixth Sense but mostly Non-Sense. One thing's for sure: you'll talk and talk about it.

Schneider has a flair for writing credible dialogue for children; it isn't condescending or too precocious. And helmer Shawn Levy sets up most of the jokes fairly well.

Fresh-faced leads Muniz and Bynes are charmers, Giamatti makes Wolf into a splendidly loathsome adversary, and the film is refreshingly free of bodily function jokes.