The Lie; Joey King is Back Delivering Anger to the Audience Across the Globe. Grade: D+
Amazon Prime is doing a Collab with Blumhouse horror Welcome to Blumhouse. Which will consist of four new Blumhouse horror films in the span of a couple weeks. This is no stranger to Blumhouse, as Blumhouse has done a Collab with their film series with HULU Into the Dark... I still have not watched any of those and don’t intend to anytime soon. But since their original Amazon Studios films, I figure I’ll give it a try. As we start off with The Lie as we all know why I chose this one first... JOEY MOTHA FUCKING KING B A B Y, LETS GOOOOOOOOOOO!
The Lie tells a story about a teenage girl named Kayla (Joey King) whom is going through a rough time, as she has to deal with the hardship of her parents separating. Kayla and her father Jay (Peter Sarsgaard) are on their way to a dance camp. On the way there, Kayla spots her friend Britney (Devery Jacobs) waiting along a bus stop. As the friends rejoice, Rebecca later on needs to make a piss stop. As Jay couldn’t find her daughter and Rebecca, Jay then hears her daughter scream. It was then on Britney was pushed by Kayla, as her body fell into the ice cold river water, as it appears she may of died. Now Kayla’s parents Jay and Rebecca (Mireille Enos) have to go through the hardships, of covering Kayla’s attempted murder.
The Cinematography was alright, there was some shots at night I didn’t particularly like, but visually wasn’t all that special. The Score was pretty basic, as I’ve forgotten it within the day. The cast as a whole I believe were solid as a whole. Peter Sarsgaard playing the father played a pretty good performance, along with Mireille Enos playing the mother. Both had solid chemistry, you felt the pain, trauma, and emotion they’re going through to protect their daughter at all costs. The Great Joey King we all know and love, playing Kayla genuinely had a solid performance. I think some of her emotional moments could’ve been better, but I felt she honestly did a good job playing this anxiety filled teenager, that’s severely troubled. Only performance I didn’t particularly like, was Nicholas Lea playing Detective Barnes. Honestly felt like a cartoon character and not a real cop, plus the dialogue in which he delivers is incredibly stupid, like I can’t see any cop no matter how corrupt talk like this.
I think for awhile The Lie was on the verge to land a couple star rating. What’s surprising is this film really isn’t horror at all, it’s more of a dark drama. I think how the story was written has some acceptable moments, especially dealing with this family truly traumatized what Kayla has done, as the guilt becomes incredibly worst over the course of time keeping this lie at hand, as they were really pushing boundaries regarding Britney’s dad and the cops even. For awhile I didn’t think this was half bad, as my main issue was noticing how incredibly selfish and careless the daughter is, as well as some choices made by the parents are frustrating as well.
The reasoning behind Kayla murdering Britney makes your head scratch. We understand later down the road Kayla is dealing with personal issues of her own, including insecurity problems and popular status in school which leads to her depression and even harming herself. But does that give her the excuse to go ahead and murder her own best friend?! Absolutely not, even when her explanation to her dad makes you want scream at this child. If you’re honestly truly upset with your life, then GO TALK TO YOUR PARENTS. I know divorce is hard, but it’s not like any of them abandoned this kid completely, they’re both still around and still are caring for this child.
What made me not give this film a couple star rating, as I know those whom have watched this film will say the same thing... That Twist at the very end. To give the film maker some credit: I wasn’t expecting it, however I did forget what was shown earlier was a dream sequence, so at least the twist wasn’t predictable. However this twist makes me want to pull my hair out, as you’ve lost all sense of logic towards our lead character. I mean it’s the biggest “BRUH” moment in film of 2020... I’m still kind of angry just by how awful Kayla is. Even her reasoning behind it still would make me lose all self control I had left if I was her parents, how they came to reason behind her reasoning is incredibly shocking. As the twist is revealed, there is nothing likable about our main character whatsoever, other than her being a straight up dumbass. There are better ways in which Kayla can communicate with her parents on this dilemma, but to go through all this trouble, just to get her way?! Screw Kayla honestly, I’m pissed off. I gotta say for a Blumhouse film: This honestly wasn’t a waste of time, like the others I’ve seen this year in 2020.
Overall, The Lie was meh. If you’re a fan of the Joey King Fan Club then yeah support her, otherwise I would still watch this film just for you to experience the level of anger I and many others have experience watching that twist. -Mitch Smietana