I love you Phillip Morris

"I love you Phillip Morris" is one of the most absurd comedies of recent times in our cinemas, which can score especially with one aspect: the unusual, bold and absurdly funny performance of Jim Carrey.

Carrey plays in the film inspired by incredible but true events, the rather staid businessman Steven Russell, who after a car accident suddenly one thing is very clear: he is gay! Without further ado, he leaves his secure life with wife and children to live out his newfound homosexuality in Miami. Sex, parties, expensive restaurants - all this costs a lot of money and Steven has to come up with a lot of ideas to get the necessary funds - admittedly not always in a legal way. And although Steven proves to be an extremely clever con man, he ends up in prison one day. There he meets Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor) and falls in love. But in order to never again be separated from the love of his life, Steven must be even more brazen and creative than he has been in his previous con jobs...

The real Steve Russell, still serving time in prison for a whopping 114 years, has told author Steve McVicker his entertaining life story. Admittedly, the credibility of some of the details should be taken with a grain of salt, but by and large, all of the events that screenwriters and directors John Requa and Glenn Ficarra recount in their film actually happened. Even if they have been slightly altered for dramaturgical purposes, all that the viewer gets to see here is reality. Further proof that life writes the most absurd and exciting stories.

The film presents the unusual love story as a mixture of drama and comedy, whereby the sometimes quite drastic humor may not be everyone's cup of tea. Especially with Steven's homosexuality is dealt here, rather unusual for an American production, very openly, although the humor here is not directed against gays, but rather against the prudishness in American society. But that is only a small part of the film. For primarily it is not about homosexuality, but about a rather universal love and the indomitable will to do simply everything for the one great love - whatever the cost...

Jim Carrey fortunately cuts back on his typical and so popular grimaces, but still remains Jim Carrey all the time, which makes it a bit difficult for the viewer to take away his great love for Ewan McGregor, who is a bit more convincing in this respect. What is noticeable about Carrey, though, is his dedication to the project. Most other stars of Carrey's caliber certainly wouldn't have the guts to perform such drastic sex scenes with another man. Carrey, however, puts his heart into every moment, and that's what makes his performance so worth watching.

With a production that does absolute justice to the absurdity of its story, "I love you Phillip Morris" does thoroughly elude the tastes of the masses. But that doesn't make this wonderfully comically whimsical mix of conman comedy and love story any less worth watching. For lovers of more offbeat fare beyond the mainstream, it is therefore definitely worthwhile to redeem a movie ticket for "I love you Phillip Morris"

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp