|
Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS
Once again, the writers, John Requa and Glenn Ficarra, now directing their debut feature, have produced another subversive film and main character with an even bigger star, Jim Carrey, paired well with Ewan McGregor. Carrey plays Steven Russell, a real-life bigger-than-life (or at least in his mind) Christian conservative, who, after a near-fatal car accident, has an epiphany: “I’m Gay!” He leaves his wife, starts a livin’-large relationship with his boy-toy (the little seen but effective Rodrigo Santoro), and comes to a realization: being gay is… expensive! So what else to do but become a con-man? It leads him into prison, and it’s there his life changes for the (somewhat) better. He meets McGregor’s Ken-dollish looker Phillip Morris (sentenced for auto theft, he’s not related in any way to the cigarette company). They fall head over heels in love, and when Steven is released, he fixes on getting Phillip out, by, what else, a con (becoming Steven the Lawyer). Once Phillip’s freed, they settle into a comfortable life on the outside until Steven decides he needs a well-paying job as a CFO at a financial company (Steven the Griftin’ Banker) until, once again, it’s prison time. As if a cross between Frank Abignale from Catch Me If You Can with the can-do-breaking-out spirit of Vincent Cassel in the crime saga Mesrine, Steven keeps slipping through the cracks—and possibly farther from his real love, Phillip. This is genuinely sidesplitting and outrageously entertaining and funny. Having a performer like Jim Carrey doesn’t hurt, especially as he taps into a character we like in one scene and hate the next. Steven’s an exciting, unpredictable, and mischievous character without a clear conscience and completely reliable as the narrator. It’s a role that Carrey takes and runs with in such a fiery, believable, and heart-felt way. He brings the best of both his comedic skills and the dramatic side that he’s revealed so well in The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Carrey makes the screenplay come alive in scenes that rely purely on behavior or a reaction and keeps the audience guessing every step of the way. (In a quasi-staring contest with a prosecuting attorney and judge, he has staggeringly brilliant timing). It’s
still sad then, if a little expected, that it took so long for the movie
to come out (some pun intended) in the U.S. It’s been released in the
rest of the world for the past year and originally premiered at Sundance
two years ago. Is it because of the homosexuality or something else? I
think the former may have partly something to do with it (in the press notes the
filmmakers mention one backer asked if Phillip could be changed to a
girl instead), but that’s not it entirely. Surely most rational people
would go to see this movie for its two leads, if nothing else, and
Carrey’s bankability is still high. But it’s something else, I think—the
general tone of the movie. It’s irreverent, more than a little
dangerous, willing to alienate the audience. This might make
some wary—that is, big Hollywood studios (the movie was financed from
European funds)—but for risk takers, it’s a chance to see a movie fully
aware of its hilarity and one with a heart. A marvelous
feat, especially as a first feature.
Jack Gattanella
|
It’s
significant to note that I Love You Phillip Morris is not only
based on a true story (or as the movie says, “this really happened—it
really did”), but that it’s from the writers of Bad Santa. One
might remember that movie as a dark-as-hell comedy. Indeed, it’s still
one of the most subversive mainstream Hollywood releases of the past 10
years, with Billy Bob Thornton as an unlikable, foul-mouthed,
alcoholic louse of a Santa.