A Little White Lie, 2023.
Written and Directed by Michael Maren.
Starring Michael Shannon, Peyton List, Kate Hudson, Perry Mattfeld, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Zach Braff, Aja Naomi King, Natasha Hall, David Cade, Benjamin King, Mark Boone Junior, Don Johnson, M. Emmet Walsh, Adhir Kalyan, Jimmi Simpson, Kate Linder, Reid Miller, Romy Byrne, Spencer Squire, and Jack Gilpin.
SYNOPSIS:
When a handyman living in New York City is mistaken for a famous and famously reclusive writer, he’s brought to a university where he is to deliver a keynote address to save the school’s literary festival.
Since A Little White Lie takes forever to get to where its story wants to go, one conjures up multiple directions the plot could turn. Anything viewers come up with would have been better, as where the film does end up is largely unsatisfying.
There is certainly a small degree of intrigue to writer and director Michael Maren’s debut feature, which concerns Michael Shannon as fictional reclusive handyman passing himself off as genius novelist C.R. Shriver, who the public has never seen (although he has been interviewed over the phone), taking up an invitation to be the guest of honor for a university’s failing literary festival. There is a planned panel, additional writers and poets speaking of presenting the work for him to interact with, and journalists to talk to.
However, the truth of the matter is that following Shriver’s wife leaving him, he has also turned into an empty alcoholic that has an imagined version of himself tearing him down (it’s a lot like Charlie Kaufman’s Adaptation, except Michael Maren is no Charlie Kaufman). There is also the early revelation that the real Shriver’s novel is a misogynistic work despite its acclaim and has seemingly stood the test of time, with superfans excited to see him show up at the event.
A Little White Lie is somewhat interested in exploring fantasy and reality and where the author and story begin and end, with at least one pointed conversation about the issue when Shriver foolishly asks progressive poet Blythe Brown (Aja Naomi King) why she doesn’t try writing from the perspective of a man. Shriver is filled with self-loathing, which often doesn’t gel well with the lighthearted and comedic aspects, but there is a broken character worth studying and analyzing regarding what could have gone wrong and why he’s questioning if he wrote the famous novel or not (for some perspective on how much the premise gets the mind going, at one point, I began wondering if there was a deceased twin).
However, the narrative also gets sidetracked into several different dry subplots, such as saving this literary festival, the love life of Kate Hudson’s university administrator Simone Cleary (Kate Hudson), who easily falls in love with writers but feels betrayed that the man she booked to save the celebration of literature and so she believes is the actual author is a drunken has-been who almost doesn’t even show up to the event, the inevitable doppelgänger that shows up, and a disappearance mystery with Shriver a prime suspect considering no one knows what happened to his past ex-wife.
It also might sound like there’s an overwhelming amount of story happening in A Little White Lie, but a more appropriate description would be that there’s a lot of information ever so slowly being revealed that never fully manifests into anything exciting or suspenseful. There is the occasional funny line (Michael Shannon doing self-deprecation or Don Johnson being a bonehead) and kernels of character details expanding who Shriver is (he can’t help ogling the college cheerleaders, suggesting that maybe the person is as chauvinistic as the author he is impersonating), still with pieces missing to the puzzle and nothing noteworthy to take away from the experience.
There are also elements of A Little White Lie that don’t add up and feel like lies on behalf of the filmmakers. Shriver is made out to be a household-name novelist, yet this whole event feels small and lacking energy, considering the appeal of showing himself for the first time and potentially signing autographs. Michael Maren seems unsure of what the popularity and success of this character are supposed to be. A Little White Lie meanders so tedious that you feel like you are there with Shriver, desperately hoping for everything to end and to make it through the event.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
