Written & Directed by: Glenn Ficarra and John Requa
Starring: Jim Carrey (Yes Man), Ewan McGregor (Star Wars), Leslie Mann (Funny People), and Rodrigo Santoro (Che).
There’s something oddly compelling about watching a doomed love affair on screen. Most of the time however, the filmmakers don’t get it right, only creating the mock appearance of a loving couple. Showing true love on screen with all its muddled and messy confusion is probably the hardest thing to do, especially when every love story is different. And, that is what “I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS” is all about, different. It’s improbable, funny, touching, unbelievable, and frantic, and it’s based on true events, “This really happened.”
“I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS” is the true story of charismatic conman Steven Jay Russell (Carrey) and his transformation from a mild-mannered, married, small-town businessman into a successful gay white-collar criminal madly in love with his life-partner, who continually finds himself in trouble with the law. So brilliant is he at what he does, he even manages to escape the Texas Penal System on four separate occasions, while always finding ways to care for his soft spoken life-partner Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor).
At its heart this film is about a conman who never quits. A funny, clever, enjoyable film with lots of great twists and turns that will make you wonder how this man just isn’t running our government. His one downfall is Love. Happens to many of us. In this case though, it’s the love of one man for another.
In recent years there have been a slew of films depicting gay based themes, but none as engaging, warm, humorous and loving as this film. The bond between these two men is evident and as strong as any relationship ever depicted in film. It’s frank and it manages to avoid all the standard clichés of the genre. Coming from writer-directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, who gave us “Bad Santa”, this film arrives as a surprise. They’ve managed to create a stranger-than-fiction comedy that’s really funny and at the same time touching.
The team of Carrey and McGregor make it all fun to watch, because it seems so real to them. They throw themselves into their roles and the relationship unreservedly. That means there are scenes depicting kissing, hugging, and sexual repartee, including one steamy sex scene, but if you chose not to see the film for these reasons, you’ll deny yourself the pleasure of seeing a great film.
Yes, Carry does do some of his standard mugging, but his performance here has true heart in it and deserves recognition, as does McGregor who is just wonderful and absolutely believable in a tough gender-bending role.
“I Love You Phillip Morris”, is one of the year’s most enjoyable films.
