Film Review #6 'I Love You Philip Morris'

"I Love You Phillip Morris is the improbable but true story of a spectacularly charismatic conman’s journey from small-town businessman to flamboyant white-collar criminal, who repeatedly finds himself in trouble with the law and on the lam, brilliantly escaping from the Texas prison system on four separate occasions – all in the name of love.

I Love You Phillip Morris stars Jim Carrey, Leslie Mann and Ewan McGregor. The film is co-written and co-directed by longtime writing partners Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (“Bad Santa”) from their adapted screenplay, based on the novel by former Houston Chronicle investigative reporter Steve McVicker. Andrew Lazar (“Get Smart”) and Far Shariat (“Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind“) produced the film, with renowned writer/director" - Plot taken from Movieweb

We weren't planning on going to the cinema last night even though we try and go all Wednesdays I'm off to take advantage of the Orange Wednesday offer but the boy received some bad news from home so at 8 we decided to go to take his mind off of things. We had seen the trailer for I Love You Phillip Morris and we thought it looked incredibly funny so we opted to see that. There were other films we wanted to see but nothing else we wanted to see together. Unfortunately I was disappointed.

Another film that in my opinion showed all the funniest bits in the trailer. Infact it wasn't even all that funny so I don't know how it was classed as a comedy, in my opinion it was more of a dark romance or a romance turned on its head. Either way it wasn't something I would of went to see had I known what it was like. It's sort of how I felt when I went to see Funny People, the title and trailer was very misleading and it was more of a dark humour that you don't know if you should or shouldn't laugh at it. Luckily Jim Carrey (Steven Russel) and Ewan Mcgregor (Phillip Morris) was enough to keep me in my seat and it was at them the only time I really laughed. They did make quite a funny gay couple and their acting as southern homosexuals was impecible. In some ways it was clever, witty and a brave attempt at dealing with a sensitive subject but that still didn't cut it for me probably because I was expecting the old style Jim Carrey comedy.

Since I've mentioned the only actually good points of the movie it's only fair that I explain why I didn't really like it. Apart from the fact it wasn't that funny, it was also quite graphic and I know quite a few people sitting in our row was uncomfortable about a couple of the scenes of gay sex and kissing. The boy and I weren't fazed by this since we have some gay friends but other people around us quite obviously were. The story line was both slow and fast. It seemed slow in places so much so that I found myself wishing for it to be over and then in others it seemed like things had been missed out. Then there was a whole scene where it skipped backwards and was quite uneeded. I can't really explain much more without giving the whole story away.

The saddest thing of all was how old Jim Carrey is and yet he's still trying to be Mr Elastic, he really is passed his best. I loved Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura, Liar Liar and even up to Bruce Almighty so I find it hard to watch him now in this and in Yes Man. Ewan Mcgregor on the other hand was still as beautiful as ever and this again just adds to his showcase of talents.

Best Moment: When Steven Russel has his crash and starts shouting that he's going to be gay.
Best Line: n/a (imdb doesn't have any quotes!)
Would Recommend For: Dark Rom Com lovers
Rating: 3/10