Deceiver( 1997) Review

Deceiver (Liar UK) 1997

It’s was very interesting watching this movie again, where Tim Roth plays a possible sociopath that two detectives are interviewing, to tell whether he is lying or not, in light of his new series Lie to Me, where Roth spends his time trying to find out the same of other suspects. Deceiver, or Liar to give it, it’s much more succinct, and less romantic and pirate movie sounding English title, wants badly to be thought of in the same company or gang as brain-twisting thrillers The Usual Suspects, and Memento, and while it’s a distant cousin it’s clear that by the end it is not in the same league academically or socially, as suspense and originality tip over into preposterous twists. Suspension of disbelief is jettisoned about the same time that Michael Rooker’s (doing his usual ‘pressure-cooker about to blow’ character, which he’s been perfecting since Mississippi Burning), police detective allows himself to be hooked up to his own lie detector by suspect and arch manipulator Roth, as the weight of evidence and suspicion slides ungainly from one character to another. Also, the fact that his partner, a slightly too gullible to be believable, but refreshingly sympathetic Chris Penn looks on. And that no one else in the station hears any of the noise in the room and knocks. This is also after Roth has, in a previous interview, attacked and beaten up Rooker while in an epileptic state, but before Rooker snaps and starts playing Russian Roulette with Roth against his will. See what I mean?
It’s a shame as the build up of this mainly three hander is well done, the characters of Renee Zellweger’s hooker with a heart of gold showing her star adorability in basically a cameo, and Ellen Burnstyn as genuinely creepy crime boss Mook, both arousing our interest, and although there are too many annoyingly flash, and sooo 90s indie, camera moves and steals from other movies, when the steals remind you of David Mamet that’s no bad thing. Of course the entire movie would falter completely if it wasn’t for Roth and apart from the odd cringe at his American accent he is as dependable as you’d expect. His character is basically idle rich turned bad and is an ironic dry run for the couple of characters he himself would suffer at the hands of in Funny Games. You can even just about allow the use of a steal on Lecter’s Silence of the Lambs escape at the film’s conclusion, even if unlike that classic this doesn’t stand up to too much retrospective scrutiny. The best way to describe Deceiver is that when I saw it for the first time about six years ago I thought it was a lost classic. When I watched it again, even though I still enjoyed it, I can now see why it definitely isn’t. 7/10