I Love You Phillip Morris (2009)

Directed by: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa | 102 minutes | drama, comedy | Actors: Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor, Leslie Mann, Rodrigo Santoro, Nicholas Alexander, Michael Beasley, Tony Bentley, Allen Boudreaux, Sean Boyd, Brennan Brown, Marcus Lyle Brown, Marylouise Burke, Beth Burvant, Trey Burvant, Edward D. Caiado, Clay Chamberlin, Dameon Clarke, Ken Clement, Antoni Corone, David Dahlgren, Harrison C. Davies, Tommy Davis, Giovanni Di Pietro, Kibwe Dorsey, Lela Edgar, JD Evermore, Griff Furst, Jeff Galpin, Larry Gamell Jr., Jim Garrity, Geraldine Glenn, Annie Golden, Douglas M. Griffin, Jessica Heap, Brent Henry, Randy Herman, Louis Herthum, Tim Hickey, Keith Hudson, Jaime San Andres, DeVere Jehl, David Jensen, Kennon Kepper, Jacqueline King, Elton LeBlanc, Laurie Lee Sharon K. London, Audrey Lynn, Marc Macaulay, Reginald Mack, Sammi-Jack Martincak, David Joseph Martinez, James B. McDaniel, Ann Mckenzie, Wendy Michaels, Randall Newsome, Lance E. Nichols, Victor Hugo Palacios, Antonino Paone, Liann Pattison, Henry Pelitire, Nicholas Rich, Denise Robin, Johnny Rock, Andrew Sensenig, Morgana Shaw, Michael Showers, Andy Sims, Lisa Mackel Smith, Derek Southers, David Stanford, Jeremy Dean Turner, Martha Twombly, Deneen Tyler, Jake Austin Walker, Jaycie Taylor Walker, Michael Wozniak, Jaymon Yates

Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, the duo who previously wrote the script for the surprise hit ‘Bad Santa’, have re-entered the pen to bring us a black comedy, for which they also took the director’s chair together this time. They previously left that task to Terry Zwigoff, who introduced us to the humorous side of Billy Bob Thornton in his successful Christmas banter (!). In the confusingly titled ‘I Love You Phillip Morris’ it is Jim Carrey’s turn, who has also proven to be two-faced. You can’t think of the man without seeing cymbal puller Stanley Ipkiss, the bumbling Lloyd Christmas or the crazy Ace Ventura in a flash. Or all three. But in addition, in films such as ‘The Truman Show’ and especially ‘Man on the Moon’ and ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ he has also shown beautiful serious acting. Although that of Oscar has not yet brought him recognition. Out of the six Golden Globe nominations that his work has yielded so far (with three to three perfectly balanced for the comedic and dramatic roles), the coveted statuette has been awarded twice: for ‘The Truman Show’ and ‘Man on the moon’.

This time in the dark comedy drama ‘I Love You Phillip Morris’, Carrey combines both aspects of his career, and that makes for an interesting film, but not a comedy or drama that constantly reaches a high level. The best joke isn’t even in the movie: the script is based on the true story of con artist Steven Russell. Sometimes you don’t make up reality, as it turns out. Steven Russell (nickname ‘King Con’ or King Conman) is in fact a very remarkable person, with whom you immediately wonder why you have not heard of him before. The versatile con man, whose adventures are described in Steve McVicker’s book (on which Ficarra and Requa based their script), offers enough material for a whole series of books based on his different character traits alone. In the film, these qualities come to the fore in the first fifteen minutes, thanks to a very effective introduction. For example, we learn that Steven has a daughter with his strongly religious wife (played by Leslie Mann, best known from husband Judd Apatow’s films) and seems to live a fairly quiet life as a police officer. But also that he has been adopted and wants to find his real mother. When he doesn’t want to know him, the family rushes to Florida to build a new life (and career) from scratch. Until he gets into a serious car accident, which makes him decide to give it another go and swear to be himself from now on. Steven is gay. ‘Oh, by the way, I’m gay,’ as he himself tells us after 15 minutes.

After this dizzying introduction, the debuting directors pick up some momentum from the story, with a more emphatic focus on the romance in the protagonist’s new life. The bridge that makes this switch possible is the brief relationship between Steven and Jimmy (supporting Rodrigo Santoro), which also gives the filmmakers the opportunity to fire some of their most banal and original jokes. ‘It’s really expensive to be gay,’ Steven sighs, for example, when he has to pull out his credit card yet again to provide for his hip, luxurious lifestyle. In addition, this gives us a first insight into the motives for Steven’s systematic fraud: he sees it as a necessity to provide himself and especially his beloved with every conceivable luxury. It is only a matter of time until he runs into the lamp and is sent to prison for it. Where he meets the love of his life, the titular Phillip (a beautifully preserved supporting role by Ewan McGregor) and the roller coaster of escapes, swindles and especially inspired romance is started.

The main reason that ‘I Love You Phillip Morris’ does not continuously reach the high level that is indeed offered in some scenes is that the extensive source material makes multiple films possible, whereby the varying approach of the makers to combine those options detracts. makes use of the possibilities of an unambiguous direction. Carrey gets the chance to make it a showcase of a wide variety of character types, each addressing a different side of his diversity. His Steven Russell here is a quiet, caring husband and father, there a flamboyant homosexual to the point of force, then a shrewd con man who is most reminiscent of DiCaprio’s role in ‘Catch Me If You Can’. The nature of his scams is unfortunately a bit underdeveloped in the plot (eg the ‘how’ is underexposed), but that was probably done to avoid further comparisons with the aforementioned film. A shame in itself, because the real Steven Russell seems to have an IQ of 163, which would probably make a portrait that would focus more on his life as a con artist and less on his orientation, sometimes unnecessarily emphasized for comic effect. Which, incidentally, does not detract from the focus that has been chosen: the romantic aspects. The result is a successful (because original and refreshing) romantic comedy, which, however, should have opted a little more for the cynical humor typical of Ficarra and Requa and a little less for the underlying drama, which feels somewhat uncomfortable and unnecessary. The players can certainly handle that, but the viewer had not necessarily asked for it, or expected it based on the poster.