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A Little White Lie (2023):‘A Little White Lie,’ starring Michael Shannon & Kate Hudson in the central roles, is now streaming on Prime Video. It is written and directed by Michael Maren and based on the 2013 novel – Shriver by Chris Belden. It follows the story of a handyman with the same name as a revered writer. Due to this coincidence, he gets invited to a literary festival and is subsequently welcomed by fans and fellow writers.
The film touches upon fascinating themes about a writer, their work, and how it represents their reality and/or imagination. It also sheds light on several aspects of the literary business in an intriguing manner. The film works largely due to Shannon’s committed performance as a troubled soul. Hudson is also impressive in albeit an underwritten role.
*Spoilers Ahead*
A Little White Lie (2023) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
What is ‘A Little White Lie’ about?
Acheron University is about to have its literary festival. Their English Creative Writing professor, Simone Cleary (Kate Hudson), receives several letters that she sent and returned to her office. Simone was trying to know a reclusive writer’s whereabouts. Luckily, she opens one of them to find a response addressed to her. At the time, the staff was discussing their failure to invite any writer worth stature to inspire the audience. Dr. Wasserman (Don Johnson) and Dr. Baldwin (M. Emmet Walsh) add nothing substantial to the discussion.
Suddenly, Simone walks in, elated by the response she received from Shriver. She does not know that the responder is not the writer she was looking for. It is a down-on-his-luck handyman who happens to share the same name. This Shriver (Michael Shannon) was surprised to find an invitation to a literary festival. He spent most of his days locked inside his apartment with a cat while doing menial tasks for others. Besides, he had not read even a single book in his life. Then why would he get such a letter?
Shriver shows Simone’s letter to his friend Lenny (Mark Boone Junior). He reads it and starts teasing the handyman. The theme of this literary festival is ‘Truths, Fictions, and Alternative Facts.’ Besides getting the writer of Goat Time to discuss this topic, the university was also hoping to give him an award. So, despite his initial mocking, Lenny decides to help the handyman write an eloquent response. Simone reads Shriver’s amateurish response and considers it a part of his style of humor. The staff, who was earlier not on board with it, approves to bring Shriver in.
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Imposter Shriver
Simone is responsible for bringing the writer and the crowd to their festival. Meanwhile, Shriver starts getting depressed about what he would say to these people. He fears he does not know how to write. Later at home, his alter-ego calls out his fear of being an imposter. It somehow pushes Shriver to reflect upon his life and write about it. He notices a watermark on his ceiling that started appearing after his ex-wife left him. He starts writing in detail about his vivid, emotional response to it.
Finally, Shriver gets on a plane to attend the festival. He holds his manuscript, anxious about how the people would react to what he scribbled. In the middle of the journey, he wakes up his next-seat passenger, Delta Jones (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), to read it. He wants her to see if it is legible. She initially gets suspicious of his intentions. But soon, she recognizes him as the unrecognizable face who wrote Goat Time. She says she is attending the festival just to hear him speak. He, however, hesitates to sign a copy of the book.
Shriver gets off the plane and immediately asks for a flight back to New York. He is worried that his lie will get out pretty soon. He sits at the airport bar to pass the time. Simone, who happens to be at the same place, orders a vodka martini. He gives her a piece of unnecessary advice, which backfires on him. She then offers him Goat Time to read for being dispirited that the writer did not arrive.
Until then, Shriver had not introduced himself as this writer. After seeing the book, he realizes that she is Professor Simone Cleary, to whom he wrote a response. After clearing out that doubt, she offers him a ride. Because of their earlier unpleasant interaction, she warns him to behave properly for the three days of their festival.
Simone drives Shriver to his hotel. Since Shriver does not have a credit card, Simone offers hers for the transaction. Delta happens to have a room next to his. She sees his room’s condition and offers hers. He modestly refuses that offer. Once he is alone in the room, the imaginary voice of Shriver questions him about how long he will be able to keep up the façade. Shriver believes that his deception is both a tragedy and a comedy. He does not see much of a difference between both.
The next day. Shriver meets Professor Wasserman. Simone rescues him from getting caught in Wasserman’s endless drivel. Shriver soon learns that Simone is also a writer herself. When she mentions that his agent is going to attend the reading seminar, Shriver panics and drops an envelope full of coins on the ground. The author’s fans and fellow writers at the festival venue greet the handyman. Shriver gets overwhelmed by that reception.
Simone takes him to a reading by Blythe Brown for her book ‘Oh! The Menstrual Show’. Afterward, Simone asks if anyone has any questions for the author. After a few moments of silence, Shriver walks up to the mic and asks a question. He asks whether Blythe ever considered writing from a male point of view. Blythe gives him a blunt response and criticizes his sexist writing style. Unlike her perception of him, he modestly accepts her response and walks away.
Shriver feels a mix of embarrassment and fear and rushes out of the room with the same feeling. There, he finds a Rolling Stone columnist – Jack Blunt (Benjamin King), waiting for him. Jack expects Shriver to give him a story like he did at the time Goat Time was published. Shriver refuses, saying he has nothing to say. But Simone gets Shriver to agree to this request as a favor. As a result, Shriver goes to have drinks with Jack.
The journalist asks him some blunt questions about his years of disappearance and sudden presence. Shriver reveals that he is not the writer who wrote Goat Time. Jack refuses to believe it and considers the statement a reflection of his protagonist’s tragedy. Jack threatens to write a story about him even though they hardly have a conversation.
Depressed by that response, Shriver walks out and buys a bottle of liquor. Teresa (Romy Bryne) brings him to the table surrounded by Simone, Wasserman, Blythe, her partner Layla (Perry Mattfeld), and another writer named Victor Bennet (Adhir Kalyan). Shriver manages to bring a sense of maturity to his dialogue. His responses hold an air of ambiguity, unlike his writing style. It comes off as a pleasant surprise to Blythe. Despite the breeziness of this interaction, Shriver is still worried about the agent’s arrival. He fears that he will get his lie exposed. Meanwhile, Jack posts an article about Shriver’s identity crisis, as said earlier.
Later that night, Wasserman tells Shriver about Simone’s past, where she was betrayed by the man she loved. He asks Shriver to be gentle with her. Because of this chat, Shriver misses Bennett’s play recital. Nevertheless, he politely asks Bennett for a manuscript to read it later. It surprises not just Bennett but Simone and Blythe. Back in the hotel, he receives a note from Blythe asking to meet at the bar. Instead, he returns to his room to be conflicted by the thought of his secret getting exposed.
Suddenly that night, Wasserman arrives at his doorstep with Teresa. Blythe & Delta follow them and invite themselves in. Wasserman notices some young people having fun near the swimming pool. So, he invites Shriver to join them. But Shriver rejects T’s invitation. While everyone leaves, Blythe stays back, lying on his bed. Shriver looks out the window at a young woman jumping up and down. That image leaves an imprint on his mind.
Blythe’s Disappearance
The next morning, Shriver wakes up in bed to find himself alone in the room. Teresa calls his room and invites him to speak at her creative writing class. In the hotel lobby, he notices Layla getting worried about Blythe gone missing. Teresa rescues him from there and brings him to a class of aspirant writers. The students share their unfiltered opinions about Shriver’s work. Shriver listens to them and then talks about how he tries to understand his real-life experiences with imagination. Then, he goes on to share his thoughts on fiction writing, almost like he is realizing those things for the first time.
Later, Shriver finds out that Simone has also published a book. He gets immersed in reading it and goes late for his seminar. Wasserman tells him that the authorities are trying to know Blythe’s whereabouts. He then shares his opinion about Simone’s work and ends up sharing his surface-level understanding of literature. Eventually, during the discussion, he asks Shriver and Bennett, ‘ Are the words on a page reality or an illusion?’ Bennett gives a generic response that seems filled with pretense.
On the other hand, Shriver shares his memory of the young woman he saw from his room’s window the night before. He goes into detail to explain a surreal experience and stops midway. While that does not provide an eloquent response, Shriver still receives applause for his irreverent talk. After this discussion, Jack meets Shriver in the washroom and shares the current status of his story. Then, Detective Karpas (Jimmi Simpson) arrives to question Shriver on another matter.
Karpas tries to get details from Shriver about Blythe’s disappearance. He also brings out the subject of Shriver, the writer’s ex-wife, which adds more doubts about him. Once Karpas leaves, the imaginary Shriver appears in front of the handyman. He talks about the parallels between his life and Goat Time’s protagonist.
Inequality in the Literary World
Later that night, Shriver goes to Simone’s place and asks her about her writing work. She notes how no one from their university sees her as a writer but just a professor. He shows her the books he purchased of hers. Besides, he also showers her with praise for her work and calls her writing exceptional. Through their further interaction, the script sheds light on how the mystery of an aloof male writer trumps a female writer’s skills or genius. While her work ‘speaks for itself,’ no one listens to her. Due to her lack of success, she also renounced her literary ambitions a while ago.
After this illuminating dialogue, Simone asks Shriver to read a passage from Goat Time. He opens a page to read out the experience of its protagonist. It reflects his own experience of how he took on the writer’s persona. He gets so immersed in the protagonist’s conflict of someone else impersonating/being him. The protagonist hated the fact that a stranger was living his life. It aches Shriver, the handyman’s heart, to read this experience. After his emotional outpour, he and Simone kiss each other.
The Real Shriver
After that brief romantic moment, Simone takes Shriver to Dr. Bedrosian’s (Wendie Malick) house for a gathering. The doctor takes him to her room and asks him to sign a copy of Goat Time for her. He asks for a pen to do so. In the meantime, he calls Lenny and says he thinks he is Shriver. He says that he is Shriver, the writer. Lenny thinks his friend is high and is trying to cook up some lie. But Shriver keeps repeating that he is the writer, and the memories are coming back to him. Right after, Dr. Berdrosian brings him out and starts to get intimate with him.
By that time, Simone meets the real Shriver (Zach Braff) in the hall. So, she walks into the doctor’s library, stops the doctor and the handyman, and storms out of that house. Back at the hotel, Simone accuses Shriver of lying. He gives a strange explanation – that his lies are true. The real Shriver arrives there and calls him a doppelganger. The handyman calls this ‘real Shriver,’ an imposter. This revelation brings a rift between Shriver and Simone.
Despite that, Delta continues to believe that the person she met on the plane is the writer she liked reading. She also reveals that T. Wasserman was the third-rate poet that betrayed Simone. Detective Karpas interrupts their dialogue and speaks about his dialogue with a cheerleader, i.e., the woman that Shriver mentioned ‘floating outside his window.’ He insinuates that this Shriver is behind Blythe’s disappearance. Karpas also digs deeper into Shriver’s past and learns about his ex-wife.
A Little White Lie (2023) Movie Ending, Explained:
Who is the ‘real Shriver’?
The next morning Shriver wakes up in Delta’s room. He walks out to find the cheerleader walking past him. Later, he asks the receptionist for his key, and she refuses to give him. Since he has no other place to stay, Teresa offers hers for him to crash. Wasserman meets him there and calls his situation ‘one of the great literary hoaxes of all time.’ Unlike Shriver’s expectation, he considers the ‘real Shriver’ to be an imposter.
Wasserman rides Shriver back to the festival to get feted for his literary contribution. Shriver takes center stage and apologizes to Simone, among others. Blythe suddenly arrives there and shares her reaction to the manuscript Shriver wrote. The ‘real Shriver’ objects to this confusion. Mr. Cheadum arrives there right after and greets this real Shriver. But the moment Wasserman mentions his Shriver as the real Shriver, Cheadum walks up to him. It turns out he did not know how Shriver looked, just like Shriver’s readers.
Amidst this confusion, Detective Karpas arrives to arrest the real Shriver. He calls this person – a professional imposter. After this arrest, Shriver walks out with Simone and accepts that he is the Shriver. He then attends a seminar to read out his recent manuscript. It is the same one he wrote in his house about the watermark on his ceiling – the same that Blythe called brilliant.
Read More: 20 Best Comedy Movies of 2022
Trailer:
A Little White Lie (2023) Movie Links: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Wikipedia
A Little White Lie (2023) Movie Cast: Michael Shannon, Kate Hudson, Don Johnson
Other Details of A Little White Lie (2023) Movie: Genre – Comedy, Runtime – 1h 40m
Where to watch A Little White Lie
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