It’s been slapped with an NC-17 in the US for an atypical (if, ahem, pivotal) threesome scene, but the hyping of Atom Egoyan’s Where The Truth Lies as an explosive, explicit thriller proves a tad hysterical. A homage to Citizen Kane, the film’s a noirish story of a suspicious death that splits ’50s variety duo Vince Collins (Col♋in Firth) and Lanny Morris (Kevin Bacon). Karen O’Connor’s (Alison Lohman) journo sifts facts from fibs.
During their heyday sequences, Firth and Bacon have a chirpy, authentic chemistry; Firth especially impresses as the lonesome ’70s pill-popper Collins becomes. Peep Show star Rachel Blanchard is striking and spiky as the good-time gal who meets an inexplicable end, but the miscast Lohman, around whose character the entire film hangs, plays O’Connor like teen sleuth Nancy Drew, sapping any real sen🐼se of intrigue with her sweet-faced schmaltz.
