Alice Oscura – Featured Writer

Warning: Spoilers Ahead

The main reason that I decided to watch this movie was because of actress Joey King. I know that she’s got some acting chops from seeing her on The Conjuring, The Kissing Booth and The Act. However, this one has so many plot holes not even the best of acting could save it. And unfortunately, I do not see any other way to review this mess without revealing some spoilers. So, my apologies in advance.

The Lie is a psychological thriller written and directed by Veena Sud. It’s supposedly based on the pure love that parents feel for their children which can lead them down a destructive path in order to protect them if they need to. The story is based on the German film Wir Monster (We Monsters) released in 2015 and has been produced under the banner of Blumhouse Productions.

Rebecca (Mireille Enos) and Jay (Peter Sarsgaard) star as Kayla’s (Joey King) parents who split up recently and it is hinted that it may be due to Jay’s infidelities. Kayla at 15-years-old is an aspiring professional ballet dancer and is clearly having a hard time with the separation of her parents. Jay is tasked with dropping Kayla off to a weekend retreat organised by Kayla’s ballet school. However, things start sliding down an extremely slippery slope when Kayla spots her friend Brittany at a bus stop on her way to the same retreat.

Here’s where things get out of hand. Kayla is already a bit mentally unstable due to her parent’s situation so it’s obvious that she is going to react pretty negatively to her friend Brittany openly flirting with her father upon hearing that he is a professional rock musician. The plot goes on without the audience actually seeing that Kayla got angry with Brittany and pushed her over a bridge railing into the rushing river below. Might I add that it’s also the height of Canadian winter. Jay makes the wrong and highly illegal decision in choosing not to report the incident to the authorities and instead drives Kayla back to her mother’s office.

Now, I am not a parent and unfortunately will never have that experience, but I asked another parent what they would do in that situation. First response is that they would report it to the authorities because you would just be making things worse and escalating an already very precarious situation.

The matter does escalate extremely quickly, and it gets worse when Brittany’s father keeps insisting that he talks to Kayla to ask her questions about his daughter. Both Rebecca and Jay compound their daughter’s mistake by weaving more and more lies to both the authorities and Brittany’s father. I should also point out here that I thought Kayla was just an overindulged daughter and she is definitely old enough to understand the situation between her parents. The character is portrayed as very immature and in no way do you feel even an ounce of sympathy for her. Actually, we feel nothing from the majority of this movie and the ending falls flatter than a pancake.

All that I can say is that the Canadian winter atmosphere of the movie is literally my take on how I feel about it. I’m giving this one an intense cold shoulder and I do not agree with the propaganda that it is projecting to the audience. The plot misses the mark on this one and they almost turn the parents into homicidal maniacs in order to try to prove how a deep a parent’s love is for their child. Nope!

It is because parents love their children and want them to do the right thing that they are meant to set an example for them. You don’t add to their mistakes and make an even bigger mess. There’s a big difference between wanting to protect your child from the consequences of their mistakes, and showing them that you are willing to break the law in order to cover it up. That way they will never learn, and as a parent you need to make sacrifices to ensure that if your child does something wrong they need to understand that it is not acceptable behaviour.

Alice’s Score: 3 out of 10

For my review of Netflix thriller The Devil All the Time you can click here. And for more thought/provoking film reviews you can like and follow Redmangoreviews on Facebook here. 

 Dark Alice has an old soul and a curious mind. I believe that anyone can be a hero and that the good guys should always win! I dislike cruelty to animals and think that they have far superior qualities to humans. My motto is there is no future without the past. I also have a weird penchant for Paranormal TV shows even though the slightest sound makes me jump.

I enjoy writing reviews and throwing in fun facts to pique the readers’ curiosity. My ultimate goal in life would be to become a published writer one day. You can find me as Dark Alice Reviews on Facebook, my Instagram is alice_oscura and my Twitter handle is @lise_veliz2. For more on me you can click here.