But he is hopeful that the genre will make a comeback on the big screen.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but when JOE sat down to watch The Good Liar, we kept one eye on the rug.
When the plot involves an aging con-artist (Ian McKellen) and his tricky machinations as he tries to do his latest target (Helen Mirren) out of all her money, we were ready-and-waiting for a twist. Or a number of twists.
Because whenever a movie involves a con-artist, you know from the get-go that a plot twist is on the way, and trying to guess the twist ahead of time, only for the movie to successfully trick you down the wrong path, is one of the best parts of cinema.
It was something that Hitchcock did fantastically well, and it is that level of plot mechanics that The Good Liar is aspiring to.
But when JOE sat down to think of the last great mystery thriller, we had a tough time coming up with more than a handful. A genre that was once so popular and heavily-populated seems to have died off, even though audiences will clearly lap them up if they’re done well.
So what gives?
We figured one of the best people to ask would The Good Liar’s director Bill Condon (who was previously won an Oscar for Gods & Monsters, and been nominated for Chicago), and when JOE chatted to him, he believed it was TV’s fault for the lower population in the genre of late:
“Yeah, I think the genre got- like a lot of genres, if you think of the Westerns in the ’60s that suddenly got co-opted by TV,” Condon tells us. “I think mysteries got co-opted by television early on. And then even, as television has gotten more sophisticated, I think twisty-turny things, plots that twist, I think that is a big part of what makes TV work these days.
“And it is a shame, I think, because there is something, right now, you only go to movies for the communal experience. That is why music driven movies are popular, and frankly it is why spectacle and comic-book movies are popular.
“But in this case, that sense of being in the audience when the penny drops, right? And the moment when everyone goes ‘Ohhhh!’ I’ve seen [The Good Liar] with an audience three times now, and there is this one scene which I loved in the book, and I was really looking forward to seeing it with an audience.
“And when it happens, it is visceral. That is the pleasure of it, you know? So it is a shame that so much of that has been taken over by the home viewing experience. And I hope- I think there are a number of movies coming out, Knives Out is coming a few weeks after we are. So you hope that this [comes back]. I hope we’re on to a new trend.”
Listen to our conversation in full, as well as our chat with one of The Good Liar’s stars, Russel Tovey, right here:
Or you can listen to the interview on your preferred podcast by clicking here.
Meanwhile, check out the trailer for Condon’s new movie The Good Liar below, ahead of its release in Irish cinemas on Friday 8 November:
Clip via Warner Bros. UK
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