I Love You Phillip Morris (Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor, Leslie Mann) – There is a reason they opened this movie in Taiwan, France, Russia, and the UK before bringing it to the U.S. It had no chance here to be more than an art-house film despite having two big stars in it. If you don’t want to see men kissing on film, skip I Love You Phillip Morris. Jim does what Jim does best; he plays both comedic and serious. Steven Russell is a policeman in the south who is a seemingly happily married family man (married to Debbie, played by Leslie Mann with whom he starred as Steven in Cable Guy). But an car accident forces him to rethink his life and realizes that he’s gay and proud of it. He changes his job, becomes a thief and a con artist, and finds a lover and soul mate. Then he gets caught. He ends up in jail where he uses his masterful skill and winning personality to become the “go to guy.” And then he meets innocent, newly incarcerated Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor, who has taken the indie pic route, including last year’s excellent The Ghost Writer) and falls head over heels. The two begin a torrid affair that becomes the prison version of Brokeback Mountain. But this has comedy, too. Eventually, the guys get out of prison but Russell keeps up his con-man ways to live an extravagant lifestyle. Steven poses as a lawyer (remember Liar Liar); he becomes the CFO of a major company; and he steals the company blind. It’s amusing but leaves the movie with nowhere to go. So we make a 360-degree turn and it gets all serious. Phillip leaves Steven as Russell is sent back to prison where he finds out he has AIDS. Desperate to see Philip again, he’ll do anything. What he does is for you to watch, if you dare.
Believe me, the film has been in the making for years – on again, off again. And we see why. There would not be much of an American audience for a movie so bizarre and with such a heavy gay theme. This reported $13 million film has only done about $2 million in U.S. box office but made its money back overseas where Carrey is considered the Jerry Lewis of his generation and unconventional lifestyles are more tolerated. It is not a bad film at all. But you have to be ready for a Coen Brothers-like O Brother, Where Art Thou?/Raising Arizona meets Brokeback Mountain film and just go with the flow.