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 (Colin 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 sense of intrigue with her sweet-faced schmaltz.
