I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS is far from a perfect film, but with its faults manages to be quite an entertaining one. In the film, we follow a supposedly dying Steven Russell as he narrates what led him to such a point. Steven Russell is played brilliantly by Jim Carrey (who works so much better in these subtly comic films). As the film starts, Steven is a cop in Texas, until he moves, gets in a car wreck, and proclaims to his Catholic wife that he's gay. Steven then moves out to Florida to make his way as a gay man, but muses that "being gay is awful expensive". So, Steven starts making money any way he possibly can, and this includes being a con man. We follow Steven to prison and out of it numerous times, and in one of his first stints, he meets Phillip Morris (played daringly by Ewan McGregor), falls in love, and supposedly steals and cheats for love. Steven's antics and schemes and brilliant, as was the real man who had an IQ of over 160. The film is endearing as we care for Carrey's Steven, but wince as he steals and lies. I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS is sort of an entertaining exercise within the mob world, except that Steven is gay and very funny. As reminiscent as the film is of CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, about a con man in the 40's, this one seems textile, well colored, and wonderfully played. This playful parable about devious con men is a hell of a film, and well worth the time.
I Love You Phillip Morris: ★★★1/2
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