Big Fat Liar - Plot

Plot

Jason Shepherd (Frankie Muniz) is a diagnosed 14-year old pathological liar and con artist living in the fictional town of Greenbury, Michigan. When his English teacher, Ms. Phyllis Caldwell (Sandra Oh), assigns Jason and the rest of his class a creative writing assignment, Jason does not complete it. His parents, Harry and Carol (Michael Bryan French and Christine Tucci) are later called into school, where Ms. Caldwell tells Jason that if Jason can't bring her a handwritten story to the community college by 6 p.m., Ms. Caldwell will not consider it a valid contribution. Jason writes a story entitled Big Fat Liar, inspired by how he lies all the time. Now finished, Jason rides his older sister's old bicycle and accidentally collides with the limousine of an arrogant Hollywood producer Marty Wolf (Paul Giamatti); Jason then blackmails Wolf into giving him a ride to school. During his ride, Wolf reveals to Jason that he is also a liar and con man, but a more professional one than Jason. When the limousine reaches the college, Jason hastens out of the limo, not realizing that he has left his story behind. Wolf initially attempts to give it back to Jason, but when he sees that it is excellent, he decides to keep it for himself.

Upon entering school, Jason realizes that he does not have the story. Neither his parents nor Ms. Caldwell believes him when Jason claims to have written it, and he is therefore ordered to undergo summer school. Later, Jason and his best friend, Kaylee (Amanda Bynes) finds out that Wolf has plagiarized his composition by making the fictional film Big Fat Liar. Jason and Kaylee use their savings to fly to Los Angeles to confront Wolf, leaving local bully Bret Callaway (Taran Killam) to attend to Kaylee's absent-minded grandmother Pearl (Sparkle) after Jason bribed him by promising to do his summer school homework for him. Upon their arrival in Los Angeles, Jason and Kaylee trick limo driver Frank Jackson (Donald Faison) into giving them a ride to Wolf's studio, where Jason tricks receptionist Astrid Barker (Rebecca Corry) into leaving her post to allow him to speak with Wolf about his situation. Wolf agrees to return the story, but intentionally burns it and has Jason and Kaylee removed from his office.

Angered, Jason and Kaylee plans to inconvenience Wolf until he admits to having stolen Big Fat Liar. Frank discovers their true identities and plans, but eventually joins Jason and Kaylee after explaining that he was an actor formerly mistreated by Wolf. Frank takes Jason and Kaylee to Wolf's house, where Jason and Kaylee add blue and orange dye to Wolf's swimming pool and shampoo, giving him blue skin and orange hair. Kaylee, impersonating the Universal Studios president's secretary, sends Wolf to a child's birthday party to get vengeance for veteran stunt coordinator Vince (Lee Majors), an elderly employee of his whom he criticized and who had wanted to take his granddaughter to the same party. There, Wolf is mistaken for a clown and a group of children ends up attacking him. Meanwhile, Jason and Kaylee modify the controls to Wolf's blue Jaguar XKR convertible, causing various controls to perform the incorrect function. Struggling to control his convertible, Wolf stops just behind a monster truck, but is later rear ended by a vengeful old lady, whom he had insulted earlier, which causes him to crash into it, therefore causing its driver, the Masher (Brian Turk), to destroy Wolf's convertible in anger.

As a result of these pranks, Wolf misses his appointment with his boss and president of Universal Studios, Marcus Duncan (Russell Hornsby). Wolf and Duncan meet each other at a party to celebrate the premiere of another fictional film Whittaker and Fowl. Duncan distrusts Wolf to create anything better, and tells Wolf that production for Big Fat Liar will be withdrawn unless Wolf can convince him otherwise. Jason agrees to help Wolf in exchange for a confession of the truth to his father. Guided by Jason, Wolf makes a successful presentation which convinces Chris Ott to green-light Big Fat Liar and warning him should any little mishap occur, funding for the film will be withdrawn and his career will be over. However, Wolf betrays Jason again and calls his security guards to remove Jason and Kaylee from his office for the second time, but this time, both their schemes and hiding place location have been uncovered and revealed as well. Rocko, the head of security, informs Jason and Kaylee that they will be forced out from Hollywood and sent back to their hometown in disgrace, while the incidents they caused will be covered up.

Jason is about to throw in the towel and prepare to be forever humiliated and disbelieved in his hometown, when Wolf's beleaguered secretary, Monty Kirkham (Amanda Detmer), appears after dismissing Rocko, who was keeping an eye on Jason and Kaylee; Monty states that, because many of Wolf's co-workers and employees have been abused by him, they are more than willing to help Jason and Kaylee to take revenge against Wolf. Together, Jason, Kaylee, and the studio crew members devise their plan by which to do so. By now, Wolf has either removed or concealed the color of his skin and hair. En route to the studio, Wolf falls into several traps organized by his co-workers including skydiving out of a helicopter piloted by Vince and getting soaked from the Universal Studios Hollywood flash flood back-lot prop. Upon arriving at the studio, bedraggled and desperate, Wolf finds out that Jason has abducted his beloved toy chimpanzee, Mr. Funny-Bones. Wolf pursues Jason until Wolf and Jason reach a climactic rooftop confrontation, where, thinking he and Jason are alone, Wolf admits to having stolen Jason's story, and swears that Wolf will never tell the truth because it is 'overrated'. Immediately, it is revealed that Wolf has been filmed throughout the confession with multiple cameras. As a result, Wolf is exposed and shamed before all those whom he has abused, including Duncan, who is outraged at him for his act of plagiarism, and from a kid, no less. Without hesistation, Duncan fires Wolf for his behaviourial actions, and Jason thanks Wolf for having taught him that 'the truth is not overrated'. Enraged, Wolf chases Jason, but Jason runs off the side of the building and eventually lands on an inflated crash pad. Afterwards, Jason and his parents finally re-establish their trust.

In the epilogue, Big Fat Liar is later reproduced and shown in movie theatres across the United States, utilizing the talents and skills of all those whom Wolf had abused. During the film's closing credits, Jason is credited for having written his original story, and Ms. Caldwell is impressed and very proud of him. Meanwhile, Wolf declares bankruptcy and begins his new job as a clown, where he is assigned to entertain the son of the Masher, whom he had insulted earlier. Recognizing Wolf, the Masher orders his son: "Yo, Little Mash, show him your nutcracker!", a newly-learned prizefighting technique as a means of avenging the earlier offense. The Masher's son delivers a flying kick to Wolf's groin, and his eyes dilate and rotate.