I Love You Phillip Morris is a sweet and darkly funny film. It tells the story of Steven (Jim Carrey), an ordinary guy who discovers that he is gay, leaves his family and becomes a con man to support his lavish lifestyle. Eventually Steven is caught and ends up in prison, there he meets Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor), the two fall in love, and even though Steven swears that he is reformed, he becomes even more corrupt when he gets out of prison, in order to lavish Phillip with gifts and give him the lifestyle he thinks he deserves.
OK, so the idea of two actors we know to be straight, playing gay lovers in I Love You Phillip Morris is enough to turn some people off, so let me start by saying this – Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor make an adorable couple in this film and they don’t shy away from truly playing two men in love. While the film is written for laughs, laughs that it does get thanks to the comedic stylings of Jim Carrey, the love story between Steven and Phillip is sweet, tender and completely adorable. We all know that Ewan McGregor has a good tendency to be adorable, but who knew Jim Carrey had it in him?
Carrey is back to playing the clown in this movie, and even though we know he can play drama just as well (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind anyone?) we can’t turn away from what Carrey does best. McGregor is sweet and gentle as Phillip Morris and the audience really emotionally identify with his character.
The story is a little like a comedic Catch Me If You Can with a homosexual twist thrown in, but it is based on a true story so we have to give in and believe that Steven Russell really did love Phillip Morris so much that he was willing to do anything for him.
A funny, sweet and touching film that is definitely worth catching.
