Where the Truth Lies stars Colin Firth and Kevin Bacon as a comedy duo that has dashes of Martin and Lewis and equal dashes of the booze, babes, and mob ties of the Rat Pack. When a dead girl shows up in their hotel room and the boys have an air tight alibis and a Hollywood legend is born.
Where the Truth Lies tells the story of the hot comedy duo of Lanny Morris (Bacon) and Vince Collins (Firth). Vince is the charming Englishman and Lanny is the cad. In 1957, the boys do a 39-hour telethon called the Veteran’s Day Polio Telethon. The goal is to raise 3.9 million dollars for polio research.
At the end of the telethon, the boys are whisked straight to the airport to fly to New Jersey to attend a press conference in the new hotel of their mob boss sponsor (Maury Chakin) who is eager for the guaranteed publicity. When they arrive at their suite in the hotel they find the dead body of a girl in their suite’s bathtub. That girl is, or was, Maureen O’Flathery (Rachel Blanchard) who just happened to be the room service girl at the hotel where the duo was staying before they went on the telethon. The boys had a little extra “room service” with Maureen before the telethon.
The duo is not charged and the case consigned to Hollywood legend. That is until 15 years later (1972 for the mathematically challenged like myself) when a budding reporter (Alison Lohman) with thoughts of authorship decides to write a book on the comedy duo and find out where the truth lies about this mysterious death. To say more would spoil the mystery for you kind viewer.
Firth and Bacon have dashes of Martin and Lewis
I’ve always had a soft spot for old Hollywood. I very much liked that this movie was a double period piece, taking place in the 1950s and 1970s. Bacon and Firth play well together. I also enjoyed the hints of Martin and Lewis and the Rat Pack that crept in the story. The film has a good undercurrent of deception that keeps you wondering exactly how Maureen ended up in the bath.
Unfortunately, some things I had a slight dislike for. Alison Lohman, though lovely to look at, just didn’t seem right to me. She seemed a little too childlike. The other thing was that the mystery, when revealed, really didn’t live up to the journey in my opinion. It didn’t go where I thought it was going to go. Whatever my hesitations, Bacon, Firth, and the Old Hollywood air brought me back to liking the picture.
The movie is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. There are two versions available an unrated version and a rated R version. I’m reviewing the unrated version and think that it was the sex scenes and a bit of lesbianism that is probably what earns this DVD the unrated moniker.
The special features on this DVD include a deceptively titled 5-minute “Making of” featurette. This isn’t really a documentary but shots of behind the scenes footage that lack narration of any kind. The only other extras offered are some deleted scenes. There are nearly 3 minutes of a “Father Theme” for the young reporter that show flashbacks to her reporter father.
The movie’s mystery revolves around a 39 hour Polio Telethon
There are also roughly 8 minutes of various bits of deleted footage. The deleted footage is not really too pertinent to the plot but I did like the last one where the reporter tells the killer that he will certainly go to hell for what he has done and he responds that he doesn’t believe in hell.
All in all, I did enjoy the movie, with the old Hollywood backstory making it more enjoyable for me. However, the mystery didn’t turn out like I thought it was going to. Fans of Bacon and Firth might find something to like. I’d suggest a rental for a rainy day mystery.
Where the Truth Lies is now available at Amazon . It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a May 1st release. Visit the DVD’s database for more information.
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