I Love You Phillip Morris

Introduction

I have to admit I'm not a huge fan of Jim Carrey, I quite liked some of his earlier stuff like Ace Ventura and The Mask and also quite enjoyed The Trueman Show but overall I've found a lot of his performances annoying. So it was with a little trepidation that I approached this review…

Steven Russell (Carrey) is an average everyday guy with a well respected career within his local police force and plays the organ in the local church. He's also happily married to Debbie (Leslie Mann) with a young family. But something has been gnawing away at him…

Steven was adopted as a baby and feels the need to find his mother, something he does using his position in law enforcement. Sadly his mother rejects him and shortly thereafter is involved in a horrific car accident. After surviving this monumental event, Steven reassesses his life and decides to come out and reveal he is gay, to the surprise of everyone.

Quitting the police force, Steven moves to Miami to live the gay lifestyle with wild abandon and new boyfriend Jimmy (Rodrigo Santoro). Steven is quite the extravagant and camp gay man, but quickly realises that he can't really afford the lifestyle and so resorts to a new found career as a con artist. Despite coining it for a while, it's not too long before Steven comes to the attention of the local police and judiciary and ends up in Miami State Penitentiary.

A chance glance brings softly spoken Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor) to his attention, and Steven thinks he has found his soul mate. When Steven is released from prison early, he finds he can't live without Phillip and impersonates a lawyer to free Phillip early. Outside and together again, Steven cons a local business into appointing him as CFO and very soon the happy couple are living in luxury beyond their wildest dreams.

But will this fairytale last?

Visual

Rather splendid picture with a mix of both bright and pastel colours that shows off the rather flamboyant lifestyle that Steven Russell is trying to provide for the title character.

Extras

Not too much in terms of extras, simply a making of plus cast and crew interviews with a little overlap. As this is a true story, I would have hoped for a documentary on the real Steven Russell but never mind…

Overall

I'm always a little wary when quotes such as "Outrageously funny", Non-stop laughs" and "Hilarious" appear so prominently on the front cover artwork, it generally suggests the opposite. In this case, however, this film is all of those things and more.

What I like about this film, but which may also explain it's lack of success on general release, is the placing of a gay relationship in the centre of the story and treat as something normal albeit a quite camp normal. Carrey is believable as the protagonist, a man who just can't help lying and conning people in his pursuit of love - which he also confuses with having lots of money. McGregor is also pretty good as the softly spoken and gentle titular character, putting in a quite tender performance.

The overall film has farcical elements to it but is really funny from start to finish and all you can do is watch in amazement at the cons Carrey pulls off to pursue the money to fund his lovelife. You also cannot help but feel enormous sympathy for McGregor as you realise that all he wants is to be loved and really doesn't want or need the money being thrust at him by Carrey, his disappointment crushing when he finds out what his lover has been up to.

The most amazing thing about this film is that it really is based on a true story. The amount of cons (some quite amazing ones shown in this film) to either steal money or escape from prison has led the State of Texas to label him as their most dangerous prisoner and the real Steven Russell is still locked up in prison with a sentence of 100+ years, in solitary confinement for 23 hours of the day with only one hour exercise per day. And all this for embezzlement and prison escapes…

This film isn't just played for laughs and will make you both laugh and cry. Simply put, it is superb and deserves to be seen by a wider audience…