Z/Web

I want to like this, but I don’t. It is good, but not great. The core problem is ingrained into the story: the main character is crazy. He’s a pathological liar and mixes truth and lies so convincingly that we aren’t sure which is which. Things that you think are lies turn out to be true and vice versa. That’s utterly confusing, which is the whole point, of course, but it makes for unpleasant viewing. It’s humorous and even touching, but the viewer is always at a distance. We cannot connect with the characters because we don’t understand. (I would have loved to have the faithful wife featured more: their relationship was a mystery and by the end you cannot figure out why she’s still with the guy.) The problem with all the lies is similar to the flaw of Duplicity: because we can’t trust the character we aren’t sure what’s real and what’s not. So I’m not even sure about the “facts” of the film because for all I know they were imaginary as well!

There are many great things about the film: the performances are excellent, above average, the script is well-done, the whistleblower story unusual, and the direction is playful and quirky. However, the pacing is slow, and the film has a strangeness that difficult to overcome (you’re never sure if you should laugh, if the main guy is a genius or an idiot). Recommended if you like this kind of film (I’d love to have seen what the Coen brothers would have done with this story), but I suspect most people will be disappointed.