`LIAR LIAR': IT'S REALLY, REALLY CARREY - NO LIE.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Critic

Jim Carrey wants you to know that he's really, really sorry.

No lie.

Carrey's new movie, ``Liar Liar,'' is carefully designed to blot out all memory of the $20 million comedian's last outing, the dark and financially disappointing ``The Cable Guy.'' Emphasizing the broad physical schtick his fans expect and a new reliance on schmaltz, ``Liar Liar'' cuts every one of its potentially disturbing elements off at the knees.

Of course, the fact that ``Liar Liar'' is riotously funny and ``Cable Guy'' was not makes this approach look more canny than craven.

The premise, borrowed from an old Bob Hope movie and countless sitcom episodes, is perfect for Carrey's brand of bad-boy contortionism. He plays Fletcher Reede, a deceptively goofball lawyer whose utter lack of scruples makes him a terror in the courtroom. Reede can twist any truth and spin the most outrageous distortions into convincing arguments.

Reede's only genuine feelings are reserved for his son, Max (Justin Cooper), who lives for the spare moments his dad sets aside for world-class horseplay. But Reede constantly breaks his promises to Max, too; all because of career demands, of course, but often enough to make his ex-wife, Audrey (``NewsRadio's'' Maura Tierney), seriously consider her new, dull boyfriend's (Cary Elwes) offer to move across the continent and take Max with her.

Anyway, when Reede misses his son's fifth birthday party, the boy wishes that his father could tell the truth for 24 hours. The wish comes true; unfortunately, it's on the eve of Reede's partner-making argument for a mega-millions divorce case, with a brazen client (Jennifer Tilly) whose indiscretions are as undisguisable as her cleavage. If Reede ever needed his lying skills, it is at the moment they desert him.

Carrey's approach to visualizing this remarkable situation? Fall all over the place. Even without the computer graphics assists he enjoyed in ``The Mask,'' Carrey appears to go beyond human capabilities in ``Liar Liar,'' turning himself into the ultimate elastic masochist as Reede struggles to stop himself from speaking the truth. It would be an alarming display of self-hatred (the bit where he beats himself up in a courthouse bathroom is anyway) if Carrey's uncanny genius for absurd flexibility weren't involved.

Along with his unparalleled physical ingenuity, Carrey lets loose a torrent of verbal zingers, all exquisitely timed. Nasty as they are nutty, Carrey's lines play the old cruelty-of-truth angle for all it's worth. And you can bet most of them are his, since the script's credited writers, Paul Guay and Stephen Mazur, were previously responsible for the mirth-free ``Little Rascals'' movie.

As ``Cable Guy'' proved, however, Carrey's sicker comic impulses need some kind of governor. For ``Liar Liar,'' that service is provided, too insistently, by Tom Shadyac. The director of Carrey's breakthrough film ``Ace Ventura: Pet Detective,'' Shadyac took a giant step forward with last summer's superb gimmick comedy ``The Nutty Professor.''

But while Shadyac got compelling poignance out of Eddie Murphy in the midst of outlandish circumstances, he just gets sap out of Carrey here. John Debney's treacly score only makes Reede's expressions of paternal devotion sound gooier. It's the least persuasive aspect of this comedy about the costs and rewards of honesty.

But that's about all you'll wince at in ``Liar Liar.'' With his pants on fire to entertain, Carrey has once again topped himself at what he does best. Whether we'll ever accept him doing anything else remains a painful truth to be addressed later, after we've all stopped laughing.

THE FACTS

The film: ``Liar Liar'' (PG-13; language, violence, adult situations).

The stars: Jim Carrey, Maura Tierney, Justin Cooper, Jennifer Tilly, Cary Elwes, Swoosie Kurtz, Amanda Donohoe.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Tom Shadyac. Written by Paul Guay and Stephen Mazur. Produced by Brian Grazer. Released by Universal Pictures.

Running time: One hour, 26 minutes.

Playing: Citywide.

Our rating: Three Stars.

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Photo

Photo: Jim Carrey, left, plays a goofball lawyer who is too busy to see his son, Justin Cooper, in ``Liar Liar.''