Is the curse making him babble nonsensically as some kind of punishment? Is it like a minor stroke? Is he confusing himself as he tries to lie? Is Reede himself trying to be funny as a coping mechanism?
Why isn’t he just unable to talk?
Is the curse making him babble nonsensically as some kind of punishment? Is it like a minor stroke? Is he confusing himself as he tries to lie? Is Reede himself trying to be funny as a coping mechanism?
Why isn’t he just unable to talk?
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Some neurolinguist or someone specialising in involuntary ticks like those occuring with Tourette’s could probably give you the most elaborate (and for the layman incomprehensible) answer.
Being far less competent I’d say, based on his first interaction of “I’ve had better” and in the elevator, where he is shocked about the truth spilling out of his face, his motoric control is rerouted from the words he intends to his unfiltered, unedited thoughts.
The rest is mostly Reede reacting physically to this control loss, except for the scene with the pen, where the wish is acting like a separate entity fighting Reede by taking further control writing the truth on his face.
I think he is straining against the curse.
First, while the wish was to “not lie”, it’s clear the curse interpreted that as “say the truth instead, whenever he tries to lie”
But lying is second nature to him, and he really doesn’t want to say the truth in most cases, so he fights the power of the curse as much as he can.
You can see that when he is distracted enough, he still tries to lie, but the truth simply spurts out, like in the after sex scene, but when he is paying attention to his words, that’s when the crazyness starts.
It’s like an irresistible subconscious suggestion. His conscious mind can fight it all it wants, but ultimately it will fail, just as you can’t force yourself to not try to breathe underwater, your body will force you to open your mouth.
This struggle is what causes the “jim carreying”, it’s like the mad flailing of a drowning victim.