The enjoyable documentary An Honest Liar tells the at times surprising story of magician James Randi – “The Amazing Randi”. A staple of television talk shows for decades, Randi relished exposing and debunking fakirs who claimed that mere trickery constituted some supernatural power.
Randi became famous for hounding celebrity spoon-bender Uri Geller (and good sport Geller shows up in the movie). I didn’t know that magic fan Johnny Carson had reached out to Randi before Geller’s appearance on The Tonight Show with satisfying results.
The Can’t Miss segment of this film is Randi’s elaborate unmasking of Peter Popov, the Christian “faith healer” – it’s priceless.
Finally, An Honest Liar takes a VERY unexpected turn when there turns out to be a deception at the heart of Randi’s own personal life. This makes the movie’s ending especially heartfelt.
An Honest Liar is available streaming on Netflix Instant, Amazon Instant Video, iTunes, YouTube and Google Play.