Review: I Love You, Phillip Morris

Grade: A

Steven Russell is a happily married man. He attends church, is a member of the local police force and cares deeply for his children. However, one day he gets into a terrible traffic accident and reassesses his life, he decides to live his life to the fullest and that means finally being honest with the world, he is gay. He moves to Florida and starts living with his new boyfriend. In order to pay for his new extravagant life, Steven becomes a con-man. He commits all kinds of insurance and credit card fraud. When he is eventually caught he is sent to jail. There he meets Phillip Morris, and the two instantly fall in love. Steven’s devotion to Phillip is so strong that when the two are released from jail, Steven becomes determined to live the perfect life together, and that means pulling off one impossible con after another.

I Love You, Phillip Morris is based on an incredibly bizarre true story. The movie opens with two great lines on the screen; “This really happened.” And then “Really, it did.” Which is both funny and true, the events of this movie are so crazy that it is hard to believe that it actually happened. I wish that I could say more but I feel that it would be giving away too much of the movie, you should really just check it out yourself to see what I mean. This movie is very funny and entertaining and has a great story to it. It is too bad that it has had the trouble that it has, trying to be released in America , It shows just how homophobic this country might still be, because this movie is great and is one of the better movies of the year.

Jim Carrey (Yes Man, Fun with Dick and Jane) plays the lead role of Steven Russell. If you ever thought that Jim Carrey wasn’t much of an actor, go see this movie. His performance is absolutely amazing, easily in the top five of the year, in my opinion. It was a funny but extremely sincere performance. Ewan McGregor (Angels & Demons, The Men Who Stare At Goats) plays the role of Phillip Morris. His performance was really good as well. I really enjoyed McGregor’s performance in this movie and it proves why I like him so much as an actor. The movie also features performances from Leslie Mann, Rodrigo Santoro and many others.

I Love You, Phillip Morris is a great movie that is well worth watching. It is really funny and has a great and oddly romantic story to it. This little movie may have almost been lost and it makes me sad how few people know of this movie’s existence because on top of being really good, it features the best performance of Jim Carrey’s career. It is a fun movie that I suggest everybody watch at some point.

Great quote: “My word is my motherfu*king bond!”