Film Reviews

I Love You Phillip Morris

• Rating:
• Director: Glenn Ficarra
• Starring: Ewan McGregor
• Details: USA/102mins 16

Credit where credit is due, Jim Carrey really grabbed this role by the balls - literally. The limb-flingingly expressive funny man will probably never be any further out of his comfort zone as a man living a lie, then the truth... which evidently costs a fortune. While I Love You, Phillip Morris is most certainly a dark film, it's still a comedy, and Carrey balances said darkness with some trademark mugging, so the producers have something to put in the trailer. Warped, hilarious and an amazing true story, if you put a REALLY gay con man in the middle of The Informant it would turn out something like this.
When we first meet Carrey's Steven Russell, he's lying on a hospital bed, seemingly on his last legs and looking back on the mistakes he's made in his life. Once a devout Christian, he was also a police officer, but gave it all up when his biological mother refused to have anything to do with him. An outright epiphany doesn't come until a near death experience, when, after a secret rendezvous with a male "friend," his car is totalled, causing him to see the light and confess all to his wife. That is where the story just begins, however. Realising how expensive it is to be gay, Steven begins making money any way he can to fund his lavish lifestyle - most of it rarely legal. When he ends up in prison, he meets McGregor's Phillip Morris, and the two begin a love affair Steven can't bare ending.
Treading perilously similar ground to the equally unbelievable true story of The Informant, this comes from the guys behind Bad Santa's sardonic screenplay, which should give you a clearer idea of the tone. There were obviously a lot of shenanigans to squeeze in, and Ficarra and Requa do a good job of doing so, while staying on the right side of ridiculous for people to buy the whole thing.
McGregor's naive Morris is always at the centre of the film, but the Scottish actor only really has to appear vulnerable, which he does, while Leslie Mann is rock-solid as the dutiful ex-wife who accepts her former husband's sexuality, but hopes Jesus will change him. Carrey will pick up the plaudits, though, mainly because this is the type of role that most agents would advise their A-list client against taking. A bold choice paid off, as this is easily his best film since Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Hardly perfect filmmaking by any stretch of the imagination; I Love You Phillip Morris is still a remarkable story, hilariously told by two filmmakers who could care less about boundaries. And that is inherently refreshing.

Review by Mike Sheridan