"Deceiver," which MGM is taking out nationally today, was reviewed in Daily Variety on Sept. 4, 1997, under its original title, "Liar."
Writing from the Venice Film Festival, David Rooney opined that, as a "stylishly shot psychological thriller," the film "attempts to go the 'Usual Suspects' route with its contorted chronicle of the mind-games being played during the investigation of a crime. Written and directed by 27-year-old twin-brother team Jonas and Joshua Pate ("The Grave"), this flashy exercise in style and obfuscation represents no threat to the Coens in the sibling auteur stakes. While it no doubt will sway a coterie of the regular champions of this type of posturing indie fare, wide-scale commercial life appears unlikely.
"Using a polygraph test as its central device, the story starts with rich, Princeton-educated textile company heir Walter Wayland (Tim Roth), wired up to a lie detector in a darkened interrogation office, being grilled by tough detective Kennesaw (Michael Rooker) and his less experienced partner, Braxton (Chris Penn). Circumstantial evidence has tied him to the murder of a prostitute named Elizabeth (Renee Zellweger), whose body was found cut in two in a park.
"A heavy absinthe drinker and compulsive liar who suffers from epileptic fits, Wayland is prone to memory losses and periods of trance-like violence. Having the wealth and savvy to access useful information, he gets the skinny on his interrogators' own dark secrets, and begins to turn the investigation around on them, questioning their ability to tell the truth.
"More solid plot foundations might have provided the necessary hook to make this confusing journey of twists and turns worth taking. Instead, the Pates begin almost from square one to pile on enigmatic excess. Some interesting themes are touched on, such as the nature of truth and the opportunities for the rich and resourceful to circumvent the American justice system, but the main purpose here clearly is one of style, not substance.
"In what is largely a performance piece for the three male leads, Roth, Penn and Rooker bring plenty of intensity to grim roles, while Zellweger's fleeting presence provides a welcome glimpse of human warmth.
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