A Little White Lie

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2:17

A Little White Lie

R

Released Mar 3, 2023

1h 40m

Comedy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

35%

Tomatometer

37 Reviews

78%

Popcornmeter

100+ Ratings

Shriver (Michael Shannon), a down-on-his-luck handyman who has never read a book in his life, is mistaken for a famous writer that has been in hiding for over 20 years. With nothing to lose, he accepts an invitation to attend a college literary festival and finds himself surrounded by adoring fans and an English professor (Kate Hudson) who captures his heart. Shriver must do whatever it takes for his shot at love in this fish-out-of-water comedy.

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Tim Cogshell

FilmWeek (LAist)

I kept thinking to myself "This is a stupid movie -- but it got me."

Mar 15, 2023

Full Review

Tomris Laffly

RogerEbert.com

The film's biggest con doesn't come from [its] imposter protagonist so much as the messy script and direction.

Rated: 1/4

Mar 3, 2023

Full Review

Richard Roeper

Chicago Sun-Times

When we talk about small, finely crafted, dialogue-driven gems with interesting characters and little or no CGI, it’s easy to say, “They don’t make ’em like that anymore,” but the good news is that’s not really accurate.

Rated: 3/4

Mar 3, 2023

Full Review

Anna McKibbin

Paste Magazine

The supporting cast lend the story heft where they can, but the scale of A Little White Lie is too small to contain the wild, wandering tangents of the plot.

Rated: 4.0/10

Jun 2, 2023

Full Review

Erik Childress

Movie Madness Podcast

This oddity keeps Michael Shannon in a daze while everything around him utterly fails to find satire in the literary world and instead substitutes both obvious and idiotic twists to find eventual clarity.

Rated: 1/4

May 22, 2023

Full Review

Frank Swietek

One Guy's Opinion

A flawed but curiously winning comedy-drama of mistaken identity...a small, wistful dramedy that invites chuckles rather than the big belly-laughs of so many raunchy campus farces. And it’s all the better for it.

Rated: B

Apr 4, 2023

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Stephen C

Funny in 1 hour and 40 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/29/25

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Andrew B

I loved it. It is hard to impress me with a movie. This one did. :-)

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/15/25

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Julian S

An uneven film that meanders, leaving an excellent cast stuck at its center.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/09/25

Full Review

Fred B

This movie is slow and quirky and has some cringeworthy badly conceived scenes. But at the same time, it moves along with it's own energy, stays true to itself, and the cast takes it seriously. I loved the ending, for all it's faults. The movie toed the line of farce all the way through, and I'm not going to take away the win for the poor, humble protagonist.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/02/25

Full Review

Michael H

This film got a lot of bad reviews, but I took a chance because there were a few good ones - - - I am glad that I did because this is a very good film!! It starts off a bit slow, but the cast is excellent. The story is fun and as it develops over the course of the film it is very entertaining. The ending is surprisingly good and very satisfying! The film left me with lots to think about which is always a good thing.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/27/25

Full Review

Nicholas C

Take the movie for what it is - actors believing in a script and working hard to bring it to life. You will read a lot about the fallacies in the movie, the disjointedness of some of the flow and the mad rust at the end to bring the thing to a close but ... there are no over-weight, overpaid actors in tights rushing scenes in from of a green wall to get to their next cgi sequel. If there is a travesty here is our lack of support for movies that allow actors to develop their craft and make it worth thier while for doing it - practice, practice and we give so little chance for the craft of cinema to develop. When Peter Sellers did "being there" there was no pressure to deliver a blockbuster and the economics was not as stringent as they are today in our thumb-thumping society. So - screw the critics rating of 35% and was a well intentioned movie or ... just tune it to one of the marvel superhero flicks - there are a lot of those available.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/21/25

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Michael Maren

Director

Michael Shannon

Shriver

Kate Hudson

Actor

Zach Braff

Actor

Kate Linder

Actor

Aja Naomi King

Actor

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A Little White Lie: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

Shriver (Michael Shannon), a down-on-his-luck handyman who has never read a book in his life, is mistaken for a famous writer that has been in hiding for over 20 years. With nothing to lose, he accepts an invitation to attend a college literary festival and finds himself surrounded by adoring fans and an English professor (Kate Hudson) who captures his heart. Shriver must do whatever it takes for his shot at love in this fish-out-of-water comedy.

Director: Michael Maren
Producer: Michael Reiser, Byron Wetzel, Lucas Jarach, Josh Kesselman, Jina Panebianco, Robert Ogden Barnum
Screenwriter: Michael Maren
Distributor: Saban Films
Production Co: Thruline Entertainment, CaliWood Pictures, Big Fan Films
Rating: R (Language)
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 3, 2023, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 3, 2023
Runtime: 1h 40m

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