I Love You Phillip Morris (2009)

I was very lucky to see a screening of this movie just recently, and I honestly though that this would be horrible. I loved Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Truman Show, and Dumb and Dumber, but that's really all about it. However, his latest film makes a mark on easily one of the best films of the decade. It's not the comedy itself that makes it memorable, it's the characters and the story that really makes this film a very enjoyable pleasure.

Loved every minute of it, thoroughly entertaining, actually very funny, and very sincere at the same time. It has a lot of flaws and not much detail, but with the addition the story being true just really does make it a remarkable film in the movie industry, as well as in Jim Carrey and Evan's career. A truly deserving 4 stars.

Fmovies: When a movie pushes your preconceptions out of the window, surprises you, enlightens you and on top of that it entertains you, you have a great movie. "I Love You Phillip Morris" is that kind of great movie. Daring, fresh, moving and funny. Jim Carrey, this time, takes us for an unusual ride and I was part of it before I knew what hit me. I think this is Jim Carrey's best performance and made me wonder what other surprises he has up his sleeve. The love that blooms in jail between Carrey's character and Phillip Morris - a sensational performance by Ewan MGregor - is so profoundly vivid that I was taken by their own strangely innocent affair and went with them all the way. I found myself tearing up and rooting by this two winning misfits. I will recommend you to push your own preconceptions out of the window and have a great time at the movies.

I love You Philip Morris is an exceptional film, not because of the script, acting, or filming all of which are above average but simply because it seriously tries to take a homosexual relationship and show it as a heterosexual one and does so without the squirm.

Maybe the world still ain't ready (this is most under-reviewed of any Carey film on IMDb) but it is a good film.

With strong elements of humor, con tricks, prison, and a heart that is genuine, it is a very entertaining film.

Hopefully it is a ground-breaking film. It is enjoyable , has real depth, and you would need to be mean spirited indeed to find it repugnant in any way.

Go see, then complain.

I Love You Phillip Morris fmovies. A few months ago I put my name down for a preview of "I Love You Phillip Morris" I RSVP with plenty of time but the day before the screening I was called and informed that they had overbooked so I was dropped off. Strange I thought because some people I know had RSVP'd much later than me and they were included in the screening. Why? Because I was born in 1940 and the other were people in their 30's. One of them took me has his guest and surprise, surprise I was the one who loved the movie and has become since then a promoter of the film, so much so that people call me, me! to ask me "Do you know when it will be released? I have to tell the marketing experts that they got the age thing completely wrong and discrimination of this kind doesn't serve the film very well at all. Now, that out of the way, let me talk about this extraordinary film. A true story no less. A con-man searching for love and a romance like no other. Jim Carrey is superb and I bet that, if producers and distributors resolve their nonsense, he'll be a strong contender at the Oscars 2011. He injects his character with the kind of truth I hadn't seen before in a Jim Carrey performance. Much more than in "Man On The Moon" or "The Truman Show" The character allows him to be the great funny man that he is and at the same time there are layers and layers of new inedited brilliance. And if that wasn't enough, Ewan McGregor! A masterful portrayal of someone finding love in the most unexpected man in the most unexpected place. The scene of them falling in love has become one of my favorites. Now, you marketing people, will you let me in next time?

I Love You Philip Morris is a film that has a clear sense of warmth and is supported by superb performances. In terms of narrative, it is a romp, but one that takes some surprising (if not dark) turns. The film is not lightweight and tells the story of an inveterate conman. However, the love story, that between Steven Russell (Jim Carrey) and Philip Morris (Ewan McGregor), is touching, passionate and totally convincing. But while Carrey does (inevitably, one should suppose) teeter on the manic in places, it is McGregor who is the film's real revelation.With his blond hair and softly-spoken Southern American accent, McGregor easily gives one of the best performances I have seen him offer and represents a highly credible source of Russell's desire. The romantic and sexual relationship between the two central characters is not glossed over, and the film is all the better for it. Ultimately, I Love You Philip Morris ranks as a fine piece of drama that also works as a comedy, albeit it a bittersweet one. All in all, if you haven't seen it, then see it!

Continuing my MIFF reviews, I saw this last week with a packed house at Greater Union.

Firstly, it has to be said that it's a tragedy that this film's general release has been such a stifled process. The entertainment value of this picture, its expert construction and superb performances cannot be denied.

Carrey turns in what is possibly his best performance in a decade. It's bizarre, the way that his signature antics actually enhance rather than diminish the dramatic aspects of this film, based loosely on real life events. In fact, for me, the movie trumps The Truman Show as Carrey's true coming of age as a performer of depth. Ewan McGregor is equally astonishing as Phillip Morris - you'd swear you were watching the kind of unique romantic chemistry between two actors that arrives very rarely in cinema, and virtually never between two A-listers playing gay lovers; but the love story is only a foundation for what emerges as a kinetic, superbly told comedy-drama about the real life exploits of con man and recidivist prison escapee Steven Jay Russell.

Directors/writers Glenn Ficarra and John Requa expertly handle the tensions of comic and dramatic performance and also prove to have a masterly touch with the frenzied action sequences. Bit parts are cast beautifully. You can see the attention to detail and craft in this movie.

It can only be assumed that the gay context of this film has cost it it's commercial potential in the eyes of distributors, because everything else about it spells box office success. Apparently, it will finally have a limited release in the US in October this year, with the potential of expansion.

Without spoiling any of the twists of the film's detailed series of events, the film succeeds at beautifully hijacking audience expectation time and again. Just when you think you've got the film pinned for being predictable, suddenly it flips on you with a wry smile as if to say, "I knew what you were thinking".

I'm not sure how close the producers stuck to the facts, but it scarcely matters. If 5% of this narrative is true, it would be amazing in itself. I would be happy if the film was complete fiction.

It's a wonderful, assured comedy and deserves wide commercial exploitation.