This movie is like a gigantic tangle of string. I mean gigantic like the size of a big house with a two car garage on the end of a cul de sac. At first glance, the loops and twists and turns are impressive but it's really nothing more than one long, boring strand. The sheer size of it can be overwhelming but when you think about somebody spending so much time just tangling string, you're overwhelmed by such a wretched waste. As the string tangler should have stopped after a couple of hours and found something better to do, these filmmakers needed to stop piling one plot contrivance on another and make a single one of them work well.Let's see how far you can get into the plot of Lies and Alibis before you want to say "Enough!" and go watch an episode of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. Ray Elliot (Steve Coogan) is a former con man who's found an unusual way to go straight. He runs a security firm for adulterers. When people want to cheat on their spouse, they hire Ray's company to cover up for them and provide them with airtight alibis. While in the midst of hiring the statuesque Lola (Rebecca Romijn) as a new associate, Ray is recognized by a thug (Henry Rollins) who mentions that there's a 5 million dollar contract out on Ray's old scam artist partner. Ray is then called away to deal with a client emergency and after helping the wealthy and horny Robert Hatch (James Brolin) conceal yet another affair from his wife, Ray is hired to help Hatch's son do the same. So while Wendell Hatch (James Marsden) spends the weekend at a bed and breakfast with his girlfriend, Ray pretends to be Wendell at a broker's convention to fool his wife.Are you still with me? Well, Wendell accidentally kills his girlfriend and cajoles Ray into covering that up, which he does by calling on the thug who recognized him. That thug works for a Mormon hit-man (Sam Elliot) who then decides that Ray absolutely must help him with alibis for his murderous work, which Ray seemingly consents to while dodging the amorous advances of one of the Mormon's wives (Selma Blair). Then Ray discovers that Robert Hatch is looking to kill him to permanently cover up for his son's deadly mistake, while the police have already traced the missing girl back to Ray, who also finds himself the target of Hatch's driver (John Lequizamo), the enraged boyfriend of Wendell's now dead girlfriend. There's also a cold blooded assassin coming after the 5 million dollar contract on Ray's old partner and a bit of confusion as to whether Ray knows where his old partner is, whether he's alive or dead or even if Ray is himself his old partner. Compounding that confusion is Ray's quest to find a corpse.And of course, Ray and Lola make googoo eyes at each other, even though she makes him look like a member of the Lollipop Guild, as Ray schemes to lure everyone involved in this whole snarl to a hotel where they can all get their just desserts.I don't know about you but by the time it got to the Mormon assassin, I had had just about enough of this movie. It was all too much to believe, especially when Ray is always portrayed as so slick and in control that there never seems to be even the slightest bit of danger in any of it. When you wade through it all, you're left with the reality that Ray is a long, boring strand. He's not interesting and he's certainly not sympathetic. So this convoluted tale boils down to there never being any real risk for the main character and the viewer not caring even if there was.Lies and Alibis might have found some way to work if it had focused on Ray and Lola, Ray's unusual business and one other thing. Maybe the problems posed by the Hatch's, maybe the people gunning for Ray's old partner, maybe the Mormon assassin who wants Ray to cover up his killings. Glopping them all and more into the mix doesn't work.Unless a house-sized tangle of string sounds to you like a great idea for a tourist attraction, don't bother with this film.

So states the risk management owner of a service that creates 'cover lies' for adulterous affairs. And up to a point that statement makes Ray Elliott (Steve Coogan) seem like an honest if distorted service provider, covering the tracks with high technology so that cheating husbands can have affairs without the danger of their wives' discovery.Smartly written by Noah Hawley and directed with style by Matt Checkowski and Kurt Mattila, LIES & ALIBIS delivers a new twist to suspense films laced with comedy yet filled with tension, murder, and all manner of underground derring-do. Ray Elliott is a smooth talker who manages to discreetly provide protection for business men who cheat on their wives using photographers to set up situations, falsifying credit cards and names and hotel room reservations, staging gifts for suspicious wives to stave off their concerns, etc. All proceeds well until Ray's primary client Robert Hatch (James Brolin) hires Ray to cover his son Wendell's (James Marsden) Santa Barbara bed and breakfast, pre-wedding escapade with a S&M girlfriend of one Hannibal (John Leguizamo) - a spree that carries out a bit too far in that the girl is dead by Wendell's inadvertent orders during the 'game'. Sam takes on the voluptuous Lola (Rebecca Romijn) as his new assistant and discovers she is as brainy as she is beautiful. He employs her to help his cover of the murder (Ray had switched IDs with Wendell in a planned alibi cover for the fling), breaking his own rules, and Lola ends up saving the day through a manner of crosses and double crosses that fling off the screen so fast that it takes powerful concentration to keep the story progress straight - just the way coordinated crime behaves! The manner in which this spree takes place involves a large cast including Jon Polito, Deborah Kara Unger, Selma Blair, Sam Elliott and a fine crew of bit players. Steve Coogan and Rebecca Romijn make the whole caper tick like a time bomb, giving the film elegance and just the right balance of noir and romance. The rapid-fire cinematography is by Enrique Chediak and the always dependable Alexandre Desplat provides the musical score (with a heavy nod to Offenbach's Barcarolle from 'Tales of Hoffman'). For an evening of fast-paced intrigue, romance, tension, and creative writing and acting, LIES & ALIBIS is a sure bet. Grady Harp

Lies and Alibis is about a guy who runs a risk management company that specializes in giving cheating spouses alibis. He hires a new girl to help out and they fall for each other. Some well known actors help keep the comedic situations funny. Turns out many people are looking for this guy and he has done a good job of hiding in plain sight until now. He must scramble to give himself his own alibi while taking care of the people who exposed him to his hunters. I didn't expect much from the cover or the cast, but this was actually quite a funny movie with lots of twists at the end. It's also done in relatively good taste which means its good for everyone over 13.

THE ALIBI is a smooth, elegant, neo-noir expertly shot by guys who did pre-cog scenes in MINORITY REPORT. It is very reminiscent of Frank Tashlin's work. Tashlin was the Warner Bros. cartoonist who ended up doing vehicles for Jerry Lewis and Doris Day. While his cartoons were strongly influenced by live action cinema, his live action features had a distinctive cartoonish element.Te same can be said for THE ALIBI which works as a very tightly knit yarn and feels as precise as a special effects sequence. This precision makes the film flow smoothly and the directors deliver Hollywood entertainment at its best.The cast is top-notch and the attached talent is the major asset of this production.The only major shortcoming of this feature is the complete absence of emotions and character depth. The only character fully developed is the main character and it is a shame because other characters are too flat so the story fails to emotionally resonate. The screenplay feels like the first draft and it seems that it was just a couple rewrites away from being fully developed.This is why THE ALIBI is just a well made programmer while it seems that deep inside it possessed a much bigger potential.