Review

Review Date: 26-December-10
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Just OK

I Love You Phillip Morris (2010)

I Love You Phillip Morris is not a cinematic valentine from chain smokers to their favorite corporate giant. (That would entail only one L in the name.) It is, in fact, the somewhat frustrating biography of a man named Steven Russell, played by Jim Carrey, who is serving a life sentence in a Texas jail for being a con man. You see, he is such a clever con man that he's a menace to society (or at least society's bank accounts) and an embarrassment to a penal system with a poor record of holding him. The movie outlines how Russell — husband, father, policeman — began his life of crime after using confidential police records to locate the woman who gave him up for adoption. Having been rejected by her, he has a near-death experience that convinces him to live for himself instead of others. He comes out of the closet, leaves his wife and child (though without severing ties), and sets out to have a good time. This requires cash, which he goes after the quick way.

Directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa time Russell's cons for maximum comic effect and catch the manic gleam in Carrey's eye to make sure we're in on the joke. After Russell swindles his way into an executive's corner office, he is called upon to present at a meeting. Just when you think his ignorance of the business will blow his cover, he whips out the bar charts and wows the crowd. (The film doesn't mention it, but Russell's IQ is reportedly at genius level.) Similarly, when impersonating a lawyer during a trial, he gambles on a pregnant pause which pays off when the judge fills in the blanks of his case. His biggest coup comes towards the end when he busts out of jail (again) with an elaborate scheme involving an AIDS diagnosis. While these hoaxes are remarkable, their humor wanes as the movie progresses. We may smirk at how well Russell bamboozles the world, but we can't feel good about the fact that his lifestyle is pathological.

The uneasy combination of lightness and sickness taints the core relationship of the film. Russell meets Phillip Morris during one of his stints behind bars and is instantly drawn to his fragility. (Co-star Ewan McGregor makes a great Southern belle.) From that point on all of Russell's cons are supposedly motivated by love, as he tries to keep his sweetheart in clover. But just as Morris says when Russell's falsity catches up with them, how can he be sure that their love isn't also a lie? By injecting a comic element into Russell's story, the filmmakers don't make him seem real enough to sustain the complexities of his situation. Should we really laugh at a man who is unable to define himself and will be imprisoned for the rest of his life as a result? Should we really swoon at a romance where one partner can't tell the truth? Is the main force that drives the protagonist love or mental illness? Reading between the film's lines, I would guess the latter. Up front, however, the movie votes for love because mental illness doesn't need to be taken seriously. Art need only imitate life without reflecting it, but I Love You Phillip Morris doesn't ring true.

Copyright © 2010 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.