Film Review: A LITTLE WHITE LIE (2023): Kate Hudson Shines in a Meandering Story of Mistaken Identity

A Little White Lie Review

A Little White Lie (2023) Film Review, a movie written and directed by Michael Maren and starring Michael Shannon, Kate Hudson, Don Johnson, M. Emmet Walsh, Peyton List, Wendie Malick, Zach Braff, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Jimmi Simpson, Perry Mattfeld, Kate Linder, Romy Byrne, Tiffany Bank, Mark Boone Junior, Mark Brocksmith, David Cade and Jordan Feldman.

Michael Maren directs the occasionally charming and, at times, intriguing new comedy, A Little White Lie, which ultimately suffers a bit since it meanders too frequently in its later scenes. This movie has a good cast but is, alas, too confused for its own good.

Michael Shannon (an actor who is always interesting to watch) stars in the movie as Shriver, a handyman from Queens, New York who gets an invitation from a college to speak there regarding his literary work. One problem: Shriver has no such work to speak of. He rarely reads and his mind tends to wander off in many different directions. His friend Lenny (Mark Boone Junior) accepts the invitation for Shriver to attend. Thus, a comedy of mistaken identity ensues that is initially entertaining to watch but becomes bland by the film’s third act.

Kate Hudson serves as Simone Cleary, the literary professor/author who invited Shriver to the school she works at. Let’s back up a bit. The author known as Shriver who Simone seeks has gone into hiding so it’s hard to pinpoint where, exactly, the real Shriver is. His author photo is very hard to decipher since it was taken decades ago. The Shriver who takes a plane to the college, played by Shannon, is also a bit unstable and could, theoretically, be the real Shriver. As far fetched as that sounds, the movie toys with that idea and maintains audience interest by doing so.

Don Johnson (remember him?) plays a college professor named T. Wasserman who rides a horse to work. Johnson’s character here tries to bond with Shriver (Shannon’s Shriver) by inviting him to go to the pool with some pretty girls but Shriver would rather be alone at peace in his hotel room. Shriver takes a liking to Simone as one would expect and starts to read one of the books she has written. Soon, a detective named Karpas (Jimmi Simpson) shows up looking to get information from Shriver on a local woman who has disappeared and Karpas believes Shriver to actually be the author he is presenting himself to be so wonders what happened to that author’s ex-wife who seems to have vanished as well.

All the ingredients are here for a laugh-out-loud comedy and Maren’s movie is light enough, at first, to work. Shannon’s character doesn’t seem to have the gift of gab until he begins to talk at a literary conference at the school and wins people over when talking about imagination versus reality. As people believe Shannon’s Shriver is, indeed, the famous author, they want him to sign books and read their manuscripts. It’s all quite entertaining but there’s no dramatic center to the plot. The love story, in particular, between Shriver and Simone falls flat for the most part but Hudson emerges unscathed with her tremendous charm. One could wish there was more of a romance between these two characters than the one we actually get in the film.

That being said, the supporting cast has some pleasant surprises. M. Emmet Walsh makes an appearance as a professor who makes a funny suggestion or two on who the college should bring in to save its literary program early in the film. Zach Braff eventually pops up as a man claiming to be the real Shriver. Braff’s demeanor doesn’t suggest that he is the real Shriver, but people start to believe him and chaos results alongside some hilarity as well.

Shannon’s performance isn’t always on the bulls-eye here. He isn’t believable enough to fool the educated crowd he does. However, the actor does have some good scenes when he tries to figure out what is the best path for him to take in his given situation. Hudson and him have pleasant interactions together although more charisma being lent to Shannon’s character would have helped their chemistry considerably.

If A Little White Lie made its decision as to whether or not Shannon’s Shriver is really the Shriver people believe him to be, it would have been a better film. This film leaves a lot of its conclusion up to audience interpretation. Also, there are times the movie hints it might take a detour towards becoming a suspense film but never really delivers on the promise.

Shannon and Hudson are worth watching even if their projects aren’t always up to expectations. A Little White Lie had great potential and has many scenes that will captivate the viewer but, ultimately, it would be a little white lie to say this film is anything other than a pleasant way to kill some time while waiting for a better movie to come along.

Rating: 6/10

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