The Lie (2018): ***/*****
A tad far-fetched still, convincing performances bolstered by a devastating plot twist reel in this film's ill-justified motives.
There is a shaky yet supported social media thesis going around that Joey King has cemented herself in “unlikeable character” Valhalla.
I can't say I disagree.
To be clear there are ignorant takes out there that assert unjustified disliking of King — these are abhorrent. I am referring to the fictional characters that the qualified actress has portrayed and not her character as a woman. Furthermore, this argument is coming from the perspective of someone who has seen a wide display of her roles: Kickass, Romona and Beezus, The Kissing Booth, Bullet Train, and The Princess to name a few.
Part of what makes King such a memorable actress is in her knack for playing a convincingly unlikeable character. In many of her roles she is a teenage girl, and what is a teenage girl if not a rebellious know-it-all?
Her role in Amazon’s original thriller The Lie doesn't prove to be any different from her usual characters' likenesses either.
Joey King plays Kayla, a feisty teenage girl whose divorced parents are dealt the backbreaking task of covering up the murder of her close friend Brit (K. Devry Jacobs).
Kayla is on the way to some sort of ballet camp in Gresham OR., escorted by her father Jay (Peter Sarsgaard) — I say some sort of because specific whereabouts aren't really necessary as Kayla's dance background serves no importance to the bulk of the story apart from corroboration’s sake.
While barreling down the icy Oregon roads they happen to see Kayla's aforementioned friend/dance partner at a bus stop.
After some stereotypical girl talk in the backseat, Brit takes a bit too personal of an interest in Jay’s dad. The two girls get into an argument and end up convincing Kayla's dad to pull over for Brit to use the bathroom. An ear-piercing scream makes Jay spring into action — only for him to find that Kayla has pushed her friend off a bridge.
The majority of The Lie’s duration concerns both Jay and Kayla's mom Rebecca (Mireille Enos) lying to Brit's father Sam (Cas Anvar) and local authorities about their daughter's involvement in her friend's disappearance. Mireille Enos delivers an impeccably believable performance in the form of an agitated and grieving mother. Skarsgaard and King pulled their weight as well, though not quite to Enos’ magnitude.
The two end up murdering Brit's dad in a sudden flash of rage after failing to plant damnifying evidence on him. Then — in a tantalizing twist — Brit returns out of nowhere, only to find Kayla's parents cleaning her father's blood off of their front bumper.
Meaning that Kayla never pushed Brit, the two made the whole thing up so that Brit could see her boyfriend, Brit quickly revealed.
Enos’ mystifying performance in this particular moment distracted me from how hole-y Brit and Kayla’s story was, when looking back at it.
Firstly, Brit’s father was constantly hounding Kayla for answers. Answers that most adults — let alone the police — could pretty easily get an answer to from a 15-year-old girl, especially when the stakes are that low.
As for the police, Kayla gets her father to keep from calling the police by telling him that she committed the murder. Once the police were to get involved, you'd assume this is where the lies would end being that Kayla and Brit's plan was to avoid the authorities entirely.
Nope, King continues to fabricate the lie and accuse Brit's dad of physical abuse, just so her friend could see her boyfriend for a couple days. And all of this because Mommy and Daddy were finally getting along again.
But still, the far-fetched yet undying power of family wasn't enough to keep me from enjoying what The Lie had to offer. And another hatefully likeable Joey King character still succeeded in delivering an entertaining thriller.
