Jim Carrey was never exactly been Sir Laurence Olivier, but he has shown from time to time that he can do more than just mug at the camera and deliver silly lines. But in his heart of hearts, he really just wants to mug at the camera and deliver silly lines. He does both to excess in I Love You Phillip Morris.
“Or you can just suck my dick. Your choice.” is the catchy line from I Love You Phillip Morris. The story of a very strange man and his very strange life. Our first glimpse of our hero has him laying on a hospital bed dying. It gets worse.
In the opening credits we are told-This really happened. Somewhere along the line Based On A True Story got a bad rap and no one says that much anymore. It’s an interesting enough story, but like Bernie Madoff, you have to wonder why he never just moved to South America or Belize or something when had a few million dollars in his pockets.
Jim Carrey plays a gay conman who has been very successful at breaking out of prisons. Unfortunately for him, the cops have been very successful at capturing him again. While in prison he meets good looking, but very dim Ewan McGregor and they fall in love. It is through his varied and sundry attempts to keep this love alive that Jim keeps ending up back in prison, and eventually lays dying.
There are a couple of funny bits here and there. There are a lot of homosexual scenes here and there. There is a good deal of advice on how to get around the systems used in prison.
While it was fun to watch the many cons and escapes unfold, the sappy love story with Carrey and McGreroy giving each other puppy dog eyes was downright annoying.
Part of the problem for me is that The Informant and Catch Me If You Can are much more interesting films that cover the same basic topic of a real life Con Man doing his thing.
