Carey does it again

KHAYALETHU MPOFU | Tuesday July 13, 2010 00:00

The movie stars off with Steve Russell recapping his life from a hospital bed and telling the viewers of the events that have shaped his life and made him what he is. The first significant event takes place at home, where to his surprise he is told that he was adopted by the people who are caring for him now. The second event is when he meets his biological mother and the last real event is when he has a car crash, which forces him to live the truth and admit to his wife that he is gay.

After this the movie moves in a different direction due to his newly found freedom, Steve is forced into conning people because as he says in the movie and the trailers being gay is really expensive. Eventually, because of his numerous cons Steve is arrested and there he learns to sharpen his skills at his trade, using the facilities of jail to the maximum he learns law talk. However, Steve's life is about to change forever, at a prison brawl he meets a soft-spoken guy called Phillip Morris, who later becomes the love of his life and as a result of this he pulls one major con after another the first of which is springing his boyfriend from jail. Well, what can I say, the movie has a relatively good plot, full of twist and turns and the beautiful thing about it is that it is based on a true story. The movie itself is based on the novel I Love You Phillip Morris: A True Story of Life, Love and Prison Breaks by Steve McVicker, which makes the movie really interesting. The only thing that was disturbing in the movie is the overt sexual scenes that took place in the movie; in fact the movie was set back more than two times due to this.

Plus the crazy thing is that Jim Carey actually pulled it off, he pulled a convincing con on the viewer playing a proper con-artist and homosexual. Though the movie is a comedy-drama, the part that stands out more is the dramatic parts of the movie ranging from confronting his mother to telling his wife he is gay is very believable.

The directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa did a splendid job of the movie, particularly at certain scenes of the movie. For instance the part of the movie where Steven Russell goes to work and discovers that the cops are waiting for him in his office. But he sees them from a distance and runs away in his car and stops by the free way and tries to kill himself with medication, now in that scene the realism is way too heavy.  Its almost palpable. The cast list of this movie is saved by the two notable actors Jim Carey as Steven Russell and Ewan McGregor as Phillip Morris other than that the movie cast list is not fit to mention. 

Lastly, the movie is something of a miracle in that it was dubbed the most cursed movie to ever be made not for the theme of the movie but for the authorities that governed it. The movie was supposed to air in February in the year 2009, but due to much lawsuits and content filtering the movie came out February 10th 2010.

Thus when looking at the movie I recommend it if you are a die hard Jim Carey fan, it is a flick that is not to missed. But if you can not stomach some gay scenes and your ultra conservative stay clear from it. Yes, stay clear away but if you are an average Joe and are just plain into comedy with a few gimmicks well, it is worth watching.

So, with much a due on a scale of 10 I give this movie a whopping 7.5 for its crazy plot based on the actual events of a real man, Steven Russell.