Film Review: 'Liar, Liar, Vampire'

Having moved around a lot for his mother's work, Davis Pell (Rahart Adams) isn't too good at making friends. So when he arrives in the small town of Forksley, he never expected to catch the attention of popular girl Caitlyn Crisp (Tiera Skovbye). Why? Because thanks to a series of incidents, Caitlyn is convinced Davis is a vampire, with the rest of the school following suit.

Seeing the misunderstanding as his chance to finally make friends, Davis decides to continue the ruse. With help from his neighbor Vi (Brec Bassinger), Davis keeps everyone in Forksley convinced that he's a vampire, earning him popularity as well as Caitlyn's affections. But as his façade becomes harder to keep up, how crazy will things get in Forksley? And will Davis have the courage to own up to his deception?

With Halloween right around the corner, I decided I'd do a little pre-game movie review in anticipation of a seasonal treat I have for you all. As the subject of that review, I decided to take a second look at this old Nickelodeon chestnut. Having last watched Liar, Liar, Vampire three years ago, my memory of the film was fuzzy apart from how charmed I was by Rahart Adams' performance the first time I caught the movie's tail-end. While that opinion remained true as I watched this film with my nostalgia-tinted glasses off, there are plenty of things about the movie itself that don't look as good without those rosy lenses.

Starting with the premise, there was definitely potential to be found in Liar, Liar, Vampire. Despite coming out three years after the movie franchise had ended and the vampire craze had died down, the film's jabs at the Twilight series were still effectively funny. It would've been interesting had this sort of meta deprecating humor was used throughout the whole movie, backdropped by a story that allowed more opportunities to be tongue-in-cheek about Twilight and how ridiculous its depiction of vampirism is. But instead, these send-ups dissipate as the film goes on, with the comedy that replaces it ranging from OK to lackluster. It doesn't help that this goldmine of a premise ends up being used as a vehicle for a generic "Just Be Yourself" message. While not surprising for Nickelodeon and certainly not a bad message to teach their target audience, I wish it wasn't done at the expense of what could've been a more creative and entertaining film.

As is, the story behind Liar, Liar, Vampire feels too lifeless (pun intended) to sustain itself. Despite the movie barely making it past one hour, it still feels like the plot has to stretch itself just to reach that far. Even as Davis's vampire ruse becomes more elaborate, there's no feeling of tension to be had as complications arise. This is a result of Liar, Liar, Vampire being in a superposition when it comes to pace: being too slow and too fast at the same time. Despite its paper-thin story getting so much extension, there are quite a few plot points that feel rushed or underdeveloped. The worst example would be Davis and Vi's relationship. While Vi is introduced as being somewhat flippant and judgmental towards Davis, we're meant to believe she develops feelings for him over the course of the movie. But despite some sweet moments between them and the chemistry between Rahart Adams and Brec Bassinger, Vi's feelings for Davis jump from snarky friendship to hidden crush with little segue in between.

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW

Not helping matters is how unlikable Vi gets when it comes to her and Davis's requisite Third Act Falling-Out. Despite having freely gone along with Davis's schoolwide deception to mess with her classmates, Vi suddenly tries to put herself on a moral high ground when Caitlyn wants Davis to turn her into a vampire. While her argument about Davis letting things go too far is accurate, it comes off as hypocritical when you realize she's been doing the same thing--and for a much shallower reason. Had Vi's social outcast status been shown to be a result of bullying or ostracization, her motivation could've been as sympathetic as Davis's. Instead, she just comes off as a petty, standoffish brat. It makes Davis's accusation that Vi's just jealous of him for becoming popular--an accusation the movie frames as unfair--hold a lot more weight (especially since Davis's popularity never causes him to ostracize Vi). The fact that Liar, Liar, Vampire paints Vi exclusively in sympathetic colors--she never even apologizes to Davis for her behavior--and rewards her with an apology from Davis before they become a couple is incredibly frustrating.

And the movie doesn't stop there when it comes to troubling implications. By the climax, Caitlyn Crisp has been exposed as an exceptionally callous and manipulative bully, having been using Davis to maintain her Queen Bee/Internet "Celebrity" status and outright viewing her classmates as "sheep" rather than friends. But despite all the evidence of Caitlyn's awfulness, Davis abruptly defends her by using his mother's "we're in high school, no one knows who they are yet" fallacy. This not only comes out of absolute nowhere and allows Caitlyn to be all too easily forgiven (alongside her equally awful boyfriend and cohorts), but it doesn't even make sense. Young people definitely struggle with who they are, but that doesn't extend to the horrible things Caitlyn is guilty of. It also somewhat derails Davis's character arc of learning to like and stand up for himself. After all the mistreatment he got from or because of Caitlyn, it would've been better had Davis gotten to give Caitlyn and his other bullies a full-on "Reason You Suck" Speech to complete that transformation.

Spoilers Over

The cast behind Liar, Liar, Vampire does the best they can with the material, though some are left with roles that don't give them much to work with. As stated before, Rahart Adams and Brec Bassinger both give charming performances. Adams particularly succeeds at selling Davis as a relatably awkward and reserved teenager, making his ridiculous scheme understandable. And before plot developments detailed in the Spoiler section derail it, Adams and Bassinger play well off each other in their Vitriolic Best Buds dynamic. Tiera Skovbye brings the right mix of vapid Mean Girl and calculated bully to Caitlyn Crisp, which makes it all the more upsetting when her character is similarly derailed. Samuel Patrick Chu delivers as the sole non-main-character teen to receive any sort of depth, and Alex Zahara does what he can to bring hammy fun to his poorly utilized character whose ridiculous name sums up how painfully unfunny they are. SPOILER ALERT If Baron Von Awesome (yes, really) had been a more consistently written antagonist in a better script, he could've been a humorous addition to Liar, Liar, Vampire's send-up of the Twilight saga. Instead, we get a bland and annoying "Comically Ineffective Villain" character all too common in kid's media who doesn't even become a legitimate threat until the admittedly actiony climax. Spoilers Over

On paper, a teen comedy poking fun at the most popular and controversial vampire film franchise out there sounds like it would a surefire success. Add a charming cast that could carry such a story and it would seem a surefire winner. But unfortunately, whatever zany comedic potential Liar, Liar, Vampire had fell by the wayside thanks to a script that failed to properly capitalize on it. Rather than go whole hog on the Twilight satire it seemed to be constructing, the film instead goes down the well-beaten path of the family-friendly "End on a Cliché Heartwarming Aesop" comedy. Such a wacky story deserves much more, and it's surprising how such an aggressively dull film would come from the same director responsible for the (for better or worse) amusing Kissing Booth franchise. With this being writer Adrian Vina's first work as a screenwriter, one can only hope his next stab at creating a Nickelodeon Halloween film will be more creative. Or at the very least, consistently entertaining.

Score: 2.5 out of 10 kaleidoscope collections.