A Little White Lie

Grade: B-

YouTube has a series of fan-made trailers for movies, with the tone shifted. There’s one for Mrs. Doubtfire as a creepy thriller. A recently divorced man will stop at nothing to see his children, even if it means dressing up as an elderly Scottish woman. There’s one for Stephen King’s IT (the 1990 miniseries) as an uplifting family drama. A sad, lonely clown living in the sewer just wants to make friends and bring joy and magic to some kids’ lives. They are well-done and convincing. If you are curious to see a whole movie like that, look no further than A Little White Lie. It’s a comedy, presented as a dark psychological thriller.

Michael Shannon is the king of intensity and vehemence. In A Little White Lie, he is also the king of long, awkward pauses. He plays Shriver, a handyman who shares a last name with a reclusive J.D. Salinger-like novelist: C.R. Shriver. The real Shriver was a one-hit wonder with Goat Time, a book that was popular, but hasn’t aged well, due to being riddled with antiquated sexist masculine thoughts. Kate Hudson is Simone Cleary, a professor at a Midwest college called Acheron. She has been the organizer of the school’s annual literary festival, which she’s told is about to be discontinued unless they can bring an author – well-known enough – to come give a talk. Shannon’s character, the fake Shriver, in the midst of his 24/7 boozing, finally responds to the letters of invitation mistakenly sent to him, and agrees to be flown to Acheron for a few days to “be” C.R. Shriver.

There’s some funny stuff here, but it’s treated with a Scorcese or Oliver Stone-like level of heavy solemnity. For some reason, Shriver has an imaginary alter-ego (also played by Shannon) who is always sober and shows up to be the voice of reason. It’s like when Birdman talked to Michael Keaton throughout, but with less of a point. Not much is really done with that. The score has lots of jazzy dissonant notes that clash with other parts in the music, to make us feel disoriented. Shannon is reunited with his Knives Out co-star Don Johnson, as a fellow writer – also on staff with the college – who imbibes at least as much as our Shriver. With all the drinking they do, I wondered how they were operating so well, and not in the hospital. Another glaring problem with credibility here is that in the age of social media and Google Image searches, the only known picture of Shriver is the vague, shadowy one on the back of Goat Time – and just about nobody knows who the real guy looks like.

If the whole movie had been like the ludicrous final 10 minutes, I would not be recommending A Little White Lie at all, but I liked it a little bit. It has ambition, and even though I didn’t think it was successful, it at least tried to do something unique. Kate Hudson is always an adorable presence. It’s understandable why Michael Shannon is such a prolific actor, even if I prefer it when he plays roles who pick up cues and come in with their lines in a timely manner. The scenes where he is able to get into character and tap-dance some BS for the students about writing are very enjoyable. His budding romance with Hudson, the little we get to explore, is handled well. The movie tries to do too much by throwing in a weird murder mystery subplot, and the final sequence is absurd. We’re expected to believe that so many people wouldn’t recognize so many other people. A Little White Lie is really a comedy that should have been let out to breathe.