I know that it may seem hard to believe for many of my readers, but Jim Carrey can be funny. He’s just hiding it extremely well in certain films coughBruceAlmightycough, and this movie is a fantastic example of his talents. It shows that when Carrey is not tied down with having to appeal to the mainstream audience he can be utterly hilarious and a fantastic actor, even if sometimes he gesticulates so much that you wonder if he’s also giving his lines in semaphore.
In the film, which is based on true events, Carrey plays Steve Russel, the conman who wouldn’t go straight that the tagline refers to. Steve is happily married with two children and is working as a policeman in Texas. However, his only purpose for being a policeman is his desire to use police records to track down his birth mother. One day, he is involved in a near fatal car crash and decides that he is going to stop living a lie and that he is going to admit to the world and himself the truth that he has known all his life: he is gay. He moves to Miami, leaving his still loving wife behind finds himself a boyfriend and decides to have an utterly gay lifestyle. But as he says: “The gay lifestyle is expensive”. So he finds himself becoming a con artist in order to supplement his meagre wage. He finally finds himself in prison for insurance fraud, where he finds a soft-spoken Philip Morris, also gay, played by Ewan McGregor. Carrey then decides to dedicate his life to making McGregor happy – No matter how many lies he has to tell to do so.
What I liked about this film was that it was both a romance and a character study. Despite the fact that I’m convinced that Jim Carrey is a cartoon character and Ewan McGregor is whoever he wants to be, their acting styles blended nearly seamlessly to create a romance that was, while not flawless certainly believable. This was also helped by dialogue that wasn’t afraid to take risks. In the film we observe several loving speeches made by the two characters to each other in addition to, I’m not sure I’m allowed to say this on the radio, we’ll just call it post “trouser friendly kiss” banter.
However the romance takes a backseat to the character study. Steve’s compulsive lying to get what he wants of course leads him to get his comeuppance. However, when he then uses more lying and cheating to get out of it, which in turn leads to an even greater comeuppance. But then, he lies his way out of that and, well, so it goes on. However, like every good anti-hero, we never stop rooting for Steve.
His cunning and more so his ineffable charm make him sympathetic, which is further accentuated by the eventual realisation that everything he does is for the benefit of Philip Morris, to give him the life Steve believes, truly believes, he deserves. Indeed rarely has a title been so indicative of the plot or lead characters motivations. The blunt simplicity of “I Love You Philip Morris” tells us all we need to know of Steve. Despite the fact that he is a consummate liar, willing to cheat to get what he wants and as cunning as a fox, the fact that he’s doing all this for that pure love allows him to remain sympathetic.
That’s not to say that there weren’t problems. The character of Philip Morris was a little too underdeveloped for my liking. Although it was well performed, I think that we needed a little more reason to believe that a character as soft spoken as Philip could end up tolerating the mania of Steve for long without snapping.
Also, towards the final third of the movie, I began to feel its length. It clocks in at 100 minutes, but given the meandering nature of the story and the fact that it lacks any true beginning middle and end (obviously due to the fact that it’s based on true events) it will probably feel longer. The characters are so engaging that you probably won’t notice, but I did once or twice.
I must also issue a warning with this film. If you’re looking for a laugh out loud raucous comedy full of slapstick and gags, go see something else. However, if you’re looking for a romantic character study that, while veering around considerably, also manages to tackle tragedy, romance and drama in a stylistic, if long, package, then you could do a lot worse than “I Love You Philip Morris”.
