Telling Lies in America

Telling Lies in America

Telling Lies in America
List Price: $9.98
Our Price: $5.04
You Save: $4.94 (49%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.46 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details


(Click here)
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada

DVD details

Actor: Brad Renfro, Calista Flockhart, Kevin Bacon, Maximilian Schell, Paul Dooley
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 101 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-04-25
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Fox Lorber

DVD Reviews of Telling Lies in America

DVD Review: Lyrical Remembrance
Summary: 5 Stars

When he wasn't writing trashy, empty thrillers (Basic Instinct, Jade, Sliver), Joe Eszterhaz must have been reminiscing about his childhood, modulating what would eventually become Telling Lies In America, a great, tender, beautifully rendered film. Set in the early 1960s Cleveland Ohio, it is the story of Karchy Jonas (Brad Renfro), a 17-year-old son of a Hungarian mill worker (Maximilian Schell) who had been a PHD in law in the old country. Something, Karchy never fails to mention to all the authority figures in his life. All the father wants in life is for he and his son to become naturalized citizens. Duly, Karchy goes to the expensive school the old man has obviously strained to pay for where, unpopular, he bluffs about all the things there are to bluff about. He works nights at a grocery store where Diney (Calista Flockhart) also works in a pained saddened silence. He comes on to her with his obvious bluffs, the little lies that are so obvious to the worldly Diney that she pities him, or is amused by him. At night he comes home to the little house he shares with his father, looks in the mirror and desperately tries to pronounce "the" which without exception always seems to come out "da".

Its fair to say that Telling Lies In America has its fair share of cliches. Those little cornets every coming of age film has to play. You have your hypocritical teacher/priest, your unattainable female Diney, her overbearing suitor Henry (Luke Wilson) and most importantly, Billy Magic (Kevin Bacon). Magic is one of those characters most filmgoers could draw from memory; the slicked back hair, the envy inducing array of lady-friends, babbling on his radio show in his all important "slanguage" while he offers his listeners some "ear conditioning" on a particularly hot day. Karchy is in awe of him. Except that the film wastes no time in exposing Magic as damaged goods. And Bacon, in some wry moments lets some of the man's bitterness show. Magic seems to like Karchy too, maybe he sees himself in the kid who can't help but showoff all the time. Or more ominously, he sees a profitable way to employ Karchy's masterful aversion to telling the truth.

The director Guy Ferland gives the film a luminous, late 50s early 60s memorabilia rich look. The score by Nicholas Pixe, a trickling of organ, is stated only in the film's key scenes. It's a good sign, especially in a period film, when the direction and the music only impress in retrospect, rather then stick out and draw attention to themselves. They work in congruence with the story. The effect is that of nostalgia. Not hokey nostalgia, but the memories of growing up, with its highs and lows compressed into a hypnotic two hours. The cliches are not cliches if they're happening to and around people you know.

Telling Lies in America will touch those nerve endings that responded to Barry Levinson's Diner. Even if this one isn't as witty with its dialogue or as generous with its guffaws, I like it better. I like the way Eszterhas weaves the humor of the Spanish fly episode, the familiar tale of a self-loathing bully into the story of a kid who just wants to be liked, without stepping into one saccharine puddle. Right up to it bittersweet ending, the film never hits a false note. It maybe ironic, that Karchy who is essentially a stand in for Esztherhas learns that he "doesn't have to showoff so much", has spawned the writer who would write a lot of showoffy trash. You'd think that it would take a very special film for me to forgive Showgirls. Luckily for him, this one is.

More Telling Lies in America reviews:
1 2

Description of Telling Lies in America

Joe Eszterhas (formulaic screenwriter of many overpaid projects, most infamously Basic Instinct and Showgirls) somewhat redeems himself with this semi-autobiographical story. His mouthpiece is Karchy Jonas (Brad Renfro), a Hungarian-born immigrant (like Eszterhas himself) growing up in Cleveland in 1960. His pop (Maximilian Schell) works hard to send Karchy to an expensive high school, where Karchy is ostracized by the rich kids and labors to find acceptance. Into town walks itinerant rock DJ Billy Magic (Kevin Bacon), the quintessence of cool with a dark charm. Magic needs a teen to run errands for him (mostly carrying payola envelopes), so he hosts a "High School Hall of Fame" contest to help him find an assistant. Karchy, who idolizes Magic, wins the contest by forging signatures of his classmates on postcards. Magic knows of Karchy's deception and is intrigues by it, as that is the kind of dishonesty he's looking for in his assistant. Karchy's lying grows into a major character trait, forcing the kid into many difficult social situations, not the least of which involves government officials investigating the slippery Magic for payola and threatening to jeopardize Karchy's family's citizenship status if he doesn't cooperate. Although no less a formula plot than other Eszterhas stuff, this one's lifted a bit by the director's personal connection to the story and by a great, charismatic performance by Kevin Bacon. Much more could be written about the connection between lying and storytelling, and fending for oneself in the mendacious jungles of Hollywood, but suffice it to say that Karchy eventually grows up to write Showgirls. --Jim Gay
Bestsellers in DVD
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] ImageThe Story of Jeremiah [VHS]
Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS] ImageWresting With God [VHS]
by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops: $19.99
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS] ImageStudy Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]
Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops: $44.00
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS] ImageTempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]
HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops: $9.98
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/Party Video [VHS] ImageTempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]
HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Strike the Original Match [VHS] ImageStrike the Original Match [VHS]
New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops: $14.95
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] ImageMedjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]
JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008 ImageMayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008
by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops: $1,463.24
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single User ImagePediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single User
by Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops: $1,463.24
Cost Accounting [VHS] ImageCost Accounting [VHS]
by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead ImageI'll Sleep When I'm Dead
Release date: 2004-11-16; DVD
Best price: $9.74
Price in other shops: $14.98
Ride with the Devil ImageRide with the Devil
NBC Universal; Release date: 2000-07-18; DVD
Best price: $6.61
Price in other shops: $12.98
The Children of Huang Shi ImageThe Children of Huang Shi
Sony; Release date: 2009-01-20; DVD
Best price: $3.98
Price in other shops: $30.99
Confessions of an American Girl ImageConfessions of an American Girl
MALONE,JENA; Release date: 2005-01-11; DVD
Best price: $0.99
Price in other shops: $3.98
Mandingo ImageMandingo
LEG; Release date: 2008-06-03; DVD
Best price: $4.34
Price in other shops: $14.95
The Cure ImageThe Cure
NBC Universal; Release date: 2004-11-23; Published: 2004-11-01; DVD
Best price: $7.93
Price in other shops: $14.98
10th & Wolf Image10th & Wolf
Lions Gate; Release date: 2007-01-09; DVD
Best price: $6.27
Price in other shops: $14.98
Prozac Nation ImageProzac Nation
Buena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2005-07-05; DVD
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops: $29.99
Bully ImageBully
Lions Gate; Release date: 2002-01-29; DVD
Best price: $5.74
Price in other shops: $14.98
Apt Pupil ImageApt Pupil
MCKELLEN,IAN; Release date: 1999-04-13; DVD
Best price: $4.43
Price in other shops: $9.95
Compare prices and read customer reviews for more than one million DVD titles.
Oscar 2005 Winners