{"id":377,"date":"2010-12-19T04:32:35","date_gmt":"2010-12-18T21:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dvdpinson.com\/?p=377"},"modified":"2010-12-19T04:32:35","modified_gmt":"2010-12-18T21:32:35","slug":"i-love-you-phillip-morris-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=377","title":{"rendered":"I Love You Phillip Morris Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I Love You Phillip Morris<\/h2>\n

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\nI Love You Phillip Morris is not a sarcastic, anti-Big Tobacco propaganda piece akin to 2005\u2019s Thank You for Smoking. It is a romance infused dramedy that has more in common with movies like The Informant and Catch Me if You Can. The film tells the engaging story of Steven Russell, a conman who has an amazing ability to pull the wool over anybody\u2019s eyes and masquerade as anything he wants to be; a lawyer, a cop or the CFO of a huge corporation. His true genius is revealed while in prison as Russell displays an uncanny knack for breaking right out whenever he fancies. What makes these escapes so astonishing is that they are true. Steven Russell\u2019s story really happened. As unbelievable as it is, the filmmakers assure \u201cIt really did.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It is easy to just sit back and laugh at the adventures of Mr. Russell and, as perfectly portrayed by Jim Carrey, it is hard not to. The man lead a unique life peppered with many hilarious moments. Russell began things as an abandoned child. Nothing terribly out of the ordinary, it happens all the time. But Russell was a deserted middle child; his lovely (that\u2019s sarcasm) mother kept her first born and youngest children and this must have established his dysfunction right from beginning. Russell\u2019s biggest flaws stem from his inability to tell the truth. When we first meet him, he is a happily married officer of the law with a beautiful baby girl. He seems to have a nice slice of the American Dream but then it is quickly revealed Russell prefers the company of men and sneaks off for some fun time whenever he can.
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After a near-fatal car accident, Russell decides to embrace his homosexuality and goes to live with a lover in South Beach, Florida. Soon, he begins to hustle and steal to maintain his high-living lifestyle and shortly after that, he is arrested. He easily adapts to his hostile environment and seems fine with life in the penitentiary. There amongst the rapist and murders Russell meets his future, Mr. Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor). Phillip is a fragile and unassuming man who is an anomaly in Russell\u2019s world, a genuinely caring person. The two fall in love instantly and once Russell is discharged, he poses as an attorney to expedite Morris\u2019 release.<\/p>\n

Once the two are together in the outside world, Russell almost instantly falls back to his terrible ways. After he gets caught embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars, he finds himself back in the clink. The place doesn\u2019t seem nearly as bearable without his soul mate and Russell comes up with many ingenuous ways to leave the confining walls of jail. Getting out isn\u2019t the problem but fixing the damage his lies and betrayals have caused to his relationship to Phillip is a real issue. Can Russell fix the one real aspect of his life or will there be nothing left when he tries to look beneath the deception?
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\nBoth McGregor and Carrey shine in their roles. As Russell, Carrey is allowed to use his best tools and reveal a few new tricks. The last few years have found Mr. Carrey struggling to find a fresh angle and films like The Number 23 haven\u2019t been the answer. Here he is revitalized and gets to flex his drama muscles along with tickling the funny bone. His Steven Russell is a flawed, broken man that you can\u2019t help but love. McGregor is almost unrecognizable as Morris as he transforms himself with a lilt, southern accent and a dainty way to carry his small frame. The two make you believe in their love for one another, which is vital to keep the audience invested in an, otherwise, despicable human being who cheats his way through life.<\/p>\n

The film places the romance on the back burner during the middle act, however, and focuses solely on Russell\u2019s thievish behavior. While there is entertainment to be had in watching Carrey deceive all those around him, I Love You Phillip Morris loses something that should have been kept in the foreground, the love story. Morris is almost a stranger by the end and any resonance that could have been had is almost completely lost. This makes the film an entertaining but emotionally shallow experience that nearly wastes some top-notch performances.
\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=yhjNNI4rs4s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I Love You Phillip Morris I Love You Phillip Morris is not a sarcastic, anti-Big Tobacco propaganda piece akin to 2005\u2019s Thank You for Smoking. It is a romance infused dramedy that has more in common with movies like The Informant and Catch Me if You Can. The film tells the engaging story of Steven […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7172,9559,10689,14317,15500,19100],"class_list":["post-377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-ewan-mcgregor","tag-i-love-you-phillip-morris","tag-jim-carrey","tag-movie-review","tag-oscar-contenders","tag-steven-russell"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}