Load of rubbish!!

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

In the early 1960s, Cleveland, Ohio immigrant teenager Brad Renfro (as Karchy Jonas) struggles with adolescence and assimilation. Mr. Renfro is working on eradicating the remnants of his Hungarian accent (his "th" sound). Meanwhile, slick disc jockey Kevin Bacon (as Billy Magic) arrives in town (one step ahead of the law), to spin "sweaty collar and dirty fingernail music" on the local rock 'n' roll radio station. Mr. Bacon is a payola player, who needs an underage kid to handle money illegal exchanges. When Renfro cheats on a radio contest, Bacon offers him big bucks to serve as "unwitting accomplice"... Bacon swaggers through his role with perfection. And, Renfro is incredible, in a very difficult role; capturing the vulnerability of youth, as he struggles to both adopt and resist Bacon's seductive persona. Calista Flockhart (as Diney Majeski) is very effective, as Renfro's "older woman" love interest. Their performances should have received some award consideration. Maximilian Schell (as Istvan Jonas) would have been more believable as Renfro's grandfather, to support the obviously wider than envisioned cultural gap between the characters. A few of the scenes are silly, but many more work, due to director Guy Ferland and his convincing cast."I make things up sometimes," Renfro reveals. Don't we all. "Telling Lies in America" certainly breaks no new ground - but, it revisits cinematic themes in great style. The film builds to a fine conclusion, and the music is terrific.******** Telling Lies in America (8/2/97) Guy Ferland ~ Brad Renfro, Kevin Bacon, Calista Flockhart, Maximilian Schell

I'll try not to repeat all of what the other reviewers have written already. Kevin Bacon is unbelievable in this role, he wears his part as a slick, sexy, supremely confident and laid-back DJ so well. He makes it impossible to imagine any other actor in this role.Every scene he appears in is to be savored. His voice is ideally suited for the broadcasts he makes. Seeing his easy charm and friendly manner is no wonder the young, innocent Kartchie idolized him. Visually, the movie is beautiful, rich, with a great soundtrack, excellent screenplay, in short, 100% enjoyment.Very nicely photographed, with very good sound direction.

It seems some people consider this a neglected "gem," a little movie that got lost among the blockbusters. Could it be it just seems good because it was written by Hollywood hack Joe Eszterhaus and is therefore superior to the trash that usually bears his name?That's what I think, anyway. Being from Cleveland, I looked forward to seeing this especially since I even observed it being filmed on Superior Avenue on the steps of the courthouse there (and I did see it--on video, because it never got an official release, not in these parts, anyway). Watching Kevin Bacon and Brad Renfro film one scene over and over and over again completely demolished any thoughts I had about the movie business being exciting and glamourous. It looked boring and monotonous to me. I also find this movie rather boring. Kevin Bacon's excellent performance keeps it afloat at times, but his efforts are sunk by Brad Renfro who is never convincing and is even somewhat insulting when he attempts what is supposed to be the younger Eszterhaus's Hungarian accent. He sounds like a half-wit instead of an Hungarian. Maximillian Schell as the father is just dull, and should make the director regret his decision not to hire Charles Bronson for fear that it was "stunt casting" (Eszterhaus relates this in his book "Hollywood Animal"). Schell may have an Oscar, but Bronson was just as good an actor, and unlike Schell, had presence and a box-office name that might have gotten this movie a distributor.It was nice to see the old CTS buses that I remember from my childhood, and I grinned when I heard the reference to my alma mater, Cleveland State University. But except for Bacon, this movie is lifeless. There is one other point in its favor: it seems to be sincere, something I could never say about anything else Eszterhaus has written.

"Lies..." tells of a Hungraian immigrant 1960 high school boy who falls in with a corrupt D.J. (Bacon) on payola and jeopardizes the possibility of U.S. citizenship for himself and his father. The film showcases good performances by Bacon and Renfro, delivers the usual "slice of life" stuff, doesn't breach realism so as to make the emotional "buy in" impossible, and even conjures up some lessons about the importance of telling the truth...and lying. After all, we're all liars, aren't we.