Jeri Jacquin
Coming from Amazon Prime, Welcome to Blumhouse and director Veena Sud is the story of what we tell ourselves and what we believe about THE LIE.
Rebecca (Mireille Enos) is raising daughter Kayla (Joey King) sharing awkward custody with ex-husband Jay (Peter Sarsgaard). That morning he is taking his daughter to dance camp and along the way Kayla sees her friend at the bus stop. Convincing Jay that they are both going to the same place, Brittany (Devery Jacobs) gets in the car.
Going down the road, Brittany wants to stop and use the restroom but all they have is the great outdoors. Waiting for the girls, Jay gets worried and goes looking for them only to hear a scream. Arriving at a bridge, Jay sees Kayla leaning as she tells her father Brittany is gone. In a panic he jumps to the river’s edge and only finds the girls wallet.
Trying to protect Kayla, Jay goes to Rebecca's work and gets her home. There, Kayla recounts to her mother what happened. Trying to keep their daughter safe, they are shocked with Brittany's father Sam (Cas Anvar) knocks on the door thinking that perhaps Kayla knows where his daughter is.
Rebecca and Jay realize that the only way to keep Kayla away from questions is to create questions of their own. Turning to law enforcement, everything begins to unravel and Kayla's attitude toward it all is a bit curious to say the least.
In a last-ditch effort to help their daughter, it is their worse fear come true!
Enos as Rebecca is a doing her best with a career and a teenage daughter that just does not seem to be happy about anything. Trying to have a new relationship plus dealing with an unreliable ex-husband, Enos delivers as we watch her character go from a well-manicured business woman to a falling apart mother.
Sarsgaard as Jay is an ex-husband who is fully aware, he failed, so much so that he allows the things his daughter says and does go without question. Making up for what he considers being a bad father, he is willing to chalk everything up to 'being a teenager' instead of what is really true about his daughter.
King as Kayla is a teen that needs discipline but is to busy playing games. That might be a bit of a personal opinion as I see the character of Kayla as annoying and a kid I would never want to hang around with - but that's just me. King puts in the work to make sure I feel this way for one shocking reason and no, I am not going to tell you what it is. King is growing as an actress and it's one leap after another.
Anvar as Sam is a neighbor who gets caught up in something that he doesn't understand. The constant confrontations with Rebecca, Jay and Kayla is nerve wrecking to watch. Anvar is an actor I enjoy watching because he consistently chooses unexpected roles with very cool results.
Other cast include Devery Jacobs as Brittany, Patti Kim as Detective Kenji Tagata, and Nicholas Lea as Detective Rodney Barnes.
Amazon Prime offers television shows and original content included in its Amazon Prime subscription. Original programs such as CARNIVAL ROW, THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE, and THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL are hit shows. Coming soon is the next series with GOLIATH starring Billy Bob Thornton and it promises to another successful and intense series.
Blumhouse Productions is known for producing horror films such as PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, INSIDIOUS, SINISTER, THE PURGE, THE GIFT, GET OUT, HAPPY DEATH DAY and SPLIT. The films from Blumhouse have become instant classics and they continue to give us something to scream about! See more at www.blumhouse.com
THE LIE is a story of family dysfunction, a teen with serious issues, refusing to do the right thing over and over and having it all come crumbling right in front of the family's eyes. I have a sneaky suspicion that people will be talking to their screens about as much as I did! Not that we want to be involved in it all but that there is this feeling that someone, anyone has to.
Keeping the story simple there is not a lot of scene changes or cgi, instead, THE LIE slowly unravels dedicated to the story each character is trying to tell about themselves and who they really are. Confronting their mistakes towards one another comes only at the expense of a tragedy. The ending is a jaw dropper!
In the end - it was an accident!
