Parents' Guide to A Little White Lie

Movie and TV plots are no strangers to misunderstandings and misrepresentations, but writer-director Michael Maren's approach is totally different and very engaging, and will hit home for many. In Shriver -- a maintenance man who's palpably uncomfortable in his own skin -- Maren doesn't deliver a liar but a human. When Shriver's friend encourages him to accept the invitation he receives to speak at the college literary festival, he does, knowing they believe him to be the reclusive author of a seminal novel and a person that no one has ever seen. And so we experience along with him what it would be like to be an impostor.

But more than that, A Little White Lie addresses questions we might well ask ourselves: What are we capable of? How would we behave if we were treated as someone who's "great" -- would we become great ourselves? And how is our own self-doubt holding us back? Like humans themselves, this film isn't perfect; we're left with unanswered questions, threads left hanging in the wind, and a plot point that just lacks common sense. But with twists and turns along the way, Kate Hudson in her most luminescent performance since Almost Famous, and Shannon knocking it out of the park (as usual), A Little White Lie delivers a truth that might lead viewers on their own self-reflective journey.