Check Out the Trailer

Director Atom Egoyan has never been shy to deal with sexual issues in his films such as EXOTICA, THE SWEET HEREAFTER and FELICIA’S JOURNEY and he has not changed here. WHERE THE TRUTH LIES plays on a low simmer for its whole running time borrowing tones from film noir.

Set in the 1970s, eager reporter Karen O’Connor (Alison Lohman, MATCHSTICK MEN) has landed a book deal to write the biography of famed comedian Vince Collins (Colin Firth, BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY). Collins was the straight man in a two-man team that featured Lanny Morris (Kevin Bacon, THE WOODSMAN). The two men were notorious party animals involving multiple women and drugs. However, one scandal has plagued their careers for decades. Maureen O’Flaherty (Rachel Blanchard, TV’s CLUELESS) was a waitress at one of their hotels who asked to interview the duo for her college newspaper. The next day she is found dead in a hotel bathtub in the performer’s next town.

As part of Karen’s deal she must find out the truth behind the death of Maureen O’Flaherty. Karen has admired the duo ever since childhood when she appeared on their yearly polo telethon and is not above using deception and her beauty to get what she wants. However, she doesn’t know what she is getting into for the performers aren’t nice men, have dealings with the mob and Lanny’s dedicated handler Reuben (David Hayman, THE TAILOR OF PANAMA) seems shady for certain.

The steamy mystery is slick and compelling. It captures the seedy underbelly of entertainment nicely. Bacon and Firth are great. It was nice to see Firth in something other than a period piece for a change. Lohman is too young looking for the character she is playing, however her performance is so good one can forgive the minor quibble even if it is distracting at first. The art and costume design in perfect adding the right glitzy sleaze feel. The imagery is at times haunting. Mixing modern sexual heat with a classic film noir tone, this murder mystery seduces the audience from start to finish.