Review of An Honest Liar (2014) by Allan C — 19 Sep 2015

I loved "The Amazing Randi" as a kid and I love him even more as an adult. Randi was a magician and escape artist - he used to appear on the kids' show "Wonderama", one time escaping from a straight jacket while suspended above NYC streets in a crane. Later on, he used his knowledge of magic trickery to debunk all manner of self-described psychics and faith healers.

This movie is basically a survey of his life, with special attention paid to his two greatest nemeses: Uri Geller and Peter Popoff. You get to see the inside of how he humiliated Geller on The Tonight Show, and created an elaborate bugging device to expose the faith healer Popoff. There is also a terrific segment on his most controversial escapade - teaching two apprentices to fool Stanford University parapsychology researchers into believing that they had out-of-this-world talents.

The other centerpiece of the story is of Randi's secret - in his personal life. The mildly interesting part - not all that astounding today - is his coming "out of the closet" at age 81. Beneath that is another story which only emerges later on...

As a documentary, it is fairly straightforward - mostly just unearthing key accomplishments. It's the subject that makes it fascinating. Greatly recommended for skeptics - and perhaps even more so for those who do believe in the paranormal.