Jim Carrey is still a star after all these years. His facial expressions and physical comedy are on point in every frame of I Love You Phillip Morris, the life story of Steven Russell, the spectacularly gay conman that according to the film is currently serving a life sentence in a Texas prison.
Steven’s back story takes up about the first thirty minutes of the film. First we find out that he was a hospital parking lot and paper bag full of cash adoption baby. From there, we see him as the perfect husband and police officer in the 1970’s (he takes shots of milk with cookie chasers.) There is a hilarious quick jump from him sticking his tongue down his wife’s throat at a house party to him having dirty gay sex with a Christian Bale doppelganger.
A car accident makes him reevaluate the course of his life as he tells the paramedics loading him into the ambulance, “I’m going to be a fag!” Steven’s next move is Miami, twin Chihuahuas and a Latino boyfriend named Jimmy. In order to live “high on the gay hog,” Steven has to commit scams and frauds. He is sent to prison after a series of comical escape attempts.
This is the end of the back story and the beginning of the love story at the center of the film. In prison Steven meets the love of his life, Phillip Morris, played by a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Ewan McGregor. Watching Jim Carrey smoothly spit game at coy and bashful Ewan McGregor is hilarious (I keep using that word.)
The Steven character is epic. There is a sequence in the film where he is in his yellow prison outfit giving a tour of the prison to his new cell-mate. He explains how prison runs on a d--- sucking economy. Not surprisingly, Steven thrives in this economy. He arranges intricate note-passing networks, gourmet meals, and hits on other prisoners at whim.
He thrives in everything he does, as he scams his way into the Chief Financial Officer position at a company and institutes a massive HMO scam.
The filmmaker is in on every one of Steven’s scams and surprises the viewer at every turn. I know I got fooled by the story several times. This is definitely a good thing.
Again, Jim Carrey did his thing. His sex scenes are gross in a slapstick/funny/sweet way. His body language in his dim-lit cell tenderly kissing Phillip is very indicative of someone in love. Ewan McGregor is also convincing as the femme housewife. You can feel the giddiness in both characters in the scene where Phillip is released from prison.
The film tries to convince the viewer that it is based on a true story. I don’t really want to look it up because I don’t want to be fooled again. True or not, it is thoughtful and funny. I give it an A-.
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