Old school is welcome, old school is good, but The Good Liar telegraphs its intentions from the outset. The performances are marvellous, which you’d expect, but they can’t lift the deeply obvious script to make this a must see film for the story. Of course Mirren was going to double cross the con man, it was just a question of why - that denouement is the most enjoyable part of the film, but you have to wait through nearly two hours to get there. Condon’s direction, so masterful in Gods and Monsters, is pace free and so unnecessarily earnest, that it kept reminding me of Ken Branagh’s equally inoffensive but pedestrian Murder on the Orient Express. Of course McKellen, Mirren and Tovey chew through every scene they’re in, but they deserved a better showcase for a clash of such acting talents.