50 Unreliable Movie Narrators

The Opposite Of Sex (1998)

The Unreliable Narrator: Dede (Christina Ricci), a malicious and manipulative teenager who'll do or say anything to get her way.

That character trait extends right into her acerbic narration, in which we're never entirely sure if she's making everything up.

Biggest Whopper:
“And that's how I died.”

Dede (briefly) leads us to believe she's karked it at the film's close.

Mad Detective (2007)

The Unreliable Narrator: Inspector Bun (Lau Ching-Wan), a loose canon whose crazy behaviour suggests he's got something of a slack grip on reality.

Biggest Whopper: Bun says that he's so good at his job because he can perceive peoples' true inner personalities. But can he really?

I Love You Phillip Morris (2009)

The Unreliable Narrator: Steven (Jim Carrey) wants to tell his story, but he's not going to get bogged down with little things like facts, frequently glossing over the less savoury elements of his tale in order to save his hide.

Biggest Whopper: Apparently those numerous jail breaks were for real, but Steven's fake death (by AIDS) was one huge (and mean) whopper.

Lolita (1997)

The Unreliable Narrator: Though Kubrick's film is arguably the more famous, Adrian Lyn's version involves more of Humbert Humbert's (Jeremy Irons) narration, which has us constantly questioning the guy's trustworthiness.

Biggest Whopper: Is Lolita really an innocent young pre-teen? Or does she have more sinister motivations?

We know what Humbert thinks...

The Informant! (2009)

The Unreliable Narrator: Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon) has massive glasses and a silly moustache, which hints at the reservoir of weird rippling beneath that goofy appearance.

Biggest Whopper: Seriously, what doesn't this guy lie about?

Accusing Agent Shepard (Scott Bakula) of assault is particularly mean, though, considering the guy's never been anything but supportive of Whitacre.

Goodfellas (1990)

The Unreliable Narrator: Henry Hill (Ray Liotta). No, seriously. This guy's involved in mob business, but he never gets his hands dirty? We suspect foul play, there.

Biggest Whopper:
Though Hill likes to pin all the really dirty stuff on Jimmy (Robert De Niro) and Tommy (Joe Pesci), when it comes to the Lufthansa job (which he apparently had nothing to do with), he still ends up with a cut.

We smell something fishy...

Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)

The Unreliable Narrator: Elvis himself, as played by B-horror cult figure Bruce Campbell.

He's now living in a retirement home, and regales us with stories of his glittering youth.

Biggest Whopper: Is this guy really The King? Or is he just a delusional impersonator who doesn't know better?

We'll never know...

Blade Runner (1982)

The Unreliable Narrator: Deckard (Harrison Ford) is hunting Replicants, synthetic humans who have landed on a future Earth.

Biggest Whopper: It's all a matter of opinion. Is Deckard a Replicant? Or is he as human as you and us?

Let the debate rage on...

Switchblade Romance (2003)

The Unreliable Narrator: We watch this story through the eyes of Marie (Cécile de France), who goes to stay with Alex (Maïwenn) and her family in a remote French house.

Which is when a serial killer turns up.

Biggest Whopper: In the film's shocking final twist, Marie is revealed as the serial killer – she merely created a separate persona in her mind to carry out her killings.

Life Of Pi (2012)

The Unreliable Narrator: Pi (Irrfan Khan) tells a story to reporter Yann (Rafe Spall).

When he was a boy, he was stranded on a lifeboat with a tiger called Richard Parker after the Japanese freight ship he and his family were travelling on sank...

Biggest Whopper: Was there ever a boat with a tiger on it?

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.