I had the advantage of having read the novel before the movie. The book works a little better. Others have talked about the specifics of the movie. I want to talk about the premise of the lie. My father was a liar (often in the most positive sense of the word). My sister and I grew up with so much misinformation, that we have spent the last 30 years after his death trying to rake through the BS. We often heard tales like the ones in the book (not quite as dramatic but creative nevertheless). It was mostly things he had done. That he had accomplished. Why we were so darned poor after all this always confused me. If someone had met all those people and had all those experiences, why hadn't he parlayed them into something incredible. Once we got through it, we realized he wasn't a liar. He was an entertainer. And what he did was to pump life into a world that often doesn't have life. And while we would groan at him and tell him to stop, we would listen as if everything he said was gospel. The Albert Finney character was the same way. To be metaphorically taken away by his fantasies was the greatest gift he could give. The only gift he had. And every one was a harmless, benevolent yarn that would live on after him. There are still times when one of my father's stories pops into my head and I have to regroup and rethink before I realized what a fabrication it was.
