New slants on the age-old love story ought to happen more often. Usually though, you just end up with a recycled piece of garbage starring two big names ranked at the top of the latest US Weekly’s top 10 hottest faces list (or whatever they call their lists). The tropes fall like dominos and you consider yourself lucky if there’s even the slightest bit of originality mixed in with the typical small-talk that inevitably leads to a few comically awkward moments ending in true love. We’ve all seen that movie a few dozen times. I Love You, Phillip Morris doesn’t fit that mold, and chances are the last movie you saw even slightly resembling it wasn’t a love story, but rather the Tom Hanks and Leonardo Dicaprio vehicle, Catch Me If You Can. Phillip Morris is equal parts romantic comedy and con man thriller, a combination that earns the film kudos that manages to overcome the inability of Jim Carrey to break form.
Despite the title, this film is primarily about the man who said the words, not who received them. Steven Russell (Carrey) seemed to be living the idyllic suburban life with a beautiful wife (Leslie Mann) in a quiet, Texan, Christian community. After a car crash awakens him from his poorly fitting façade of a life, he comes to the complete realization that he’s gay and needs to start a new life. At this point the film sort of glosses over the effect that has on his former wife (this isn’t a coming out film), and begins anew as a Miami bachelor living a swanky luxury-laden lifestyle well above his means. In order to pay for his frivolous spending, Steven engages in one act of fraud after another (pouring oil on a grocery store floor and slipping, throwing himself down an escalator, etc.). Unfortunately this catches up to him and he lands in prison, where he meets the love of his life, Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor). The romance between the two quickly blossoms, and after Steven poses as a lawyer and gets Phillip out of jail, the two begin their life on the outside – only Steven’s desire to give his partner everything he could want quickly puts Steven back on the path of fraud to help pay for it all. And so their life becomes an unending string of reconciliation and jailbreak resulting in one of the better bittersweet love stories in recent memory.
The film gets a definite boost from McGregor’s understated, shy portrayal of Morris, and the characterization seems spot on for the type of person Morris is, the type who knows he’s in an unhealthy relationship, but struggles to stay in it because all the crazy stuff his partner does, is for love. Playing McGregor’s other half, Carrey’s typical goofy self at first seems like a dead perfect fit. The stiffness he adopts when doing pratfalls and desperate, pleading eyes that he affects so well have just the right levity to keep the first half-hour light and on target for a comedy. But, as the film moves into deeper, darker, and more emotional waters, Carrey proves slightly out of his depth. Just as he wasn’t fully convincing in The Majestic, he loses his footing here and never holds up his side of the narrative when it comes to dramatic acting. His facial expressions always seem like he’s on the verge of laughing versus McGregor’s comparatively apt immersion in the partnering role.
Even with Carrey’s less than convincing work, the film easily wins you over with its tender moments and wry take on all things prison, law, and “normal”. And just like with Catch Me If You Can, this is a true story. It really is. The strong performances and comical take on romance mixed with a con story warrant a ticket purchase to see I Love You, Phillip Morris. Do yourself a favor and check this one out.
"I Love You, Phillip Morris" opens December 3, 2010 and is rated R. Comedy, Drama. Directed by Glen Ficarra, John Requa. Written by John Requa, Glenn Ficarra. Starring Ewan McGregor, Jim Carrey, Leslie Mann, Rodrigo Santoro.
