I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS: DVD

SYNOPSIS:
The improbable but true story of a spectacularly charismatic conman's journey from small-town businessman to flamboyant white-collar criminal, who repeatedly finds himself in trouble with the law and on the lam, brilliantly escaping from the Texas prison system on four separate occasions all in the name of love.

Review by Louise Keller:
Like Catch Me If You Can, this stranger-than-fiction tale about a con-man is - amazingly - based on a true story. According to the song, love may be 'a many splendored thing'; here it is splendidly hilarious in a tragic way. It's an extraordinary story, punctuated by surprising twists and about-turns but above all, it is the wonderful performances of Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor as a couple of misfits for whom love is everything, that stay with us.

In line with the film's con-man theme, the filmmakers play with us for the first twenty minutes before we get an idea who is the elusively enigmatic Steven Russell (Jim Carrey). We first meet him in a hospital bed before we leap into flashback mode where he appears to be living the idyllic family situation - with his good-hearted, milk-drinking, Christian wife Debbie (Leslie Mann) and child - trying to be the best person he can be. The fact he is adopted and wanted to find his real mother seems to have prompted the lies his life has become.

Steven's coming out and his move from Texas to Florida teaches him that 'being gay is expensive' as he lavishes gifts on his new boyfriend Jimmy (Rodrigo Santoro). Insurance claim designed accidents in supermarket aisles and every imaginable type of fraud follows. It is while locked up in jail that the incurable romantic Steven meets blonde, blue-eyed Phillip Morris and cupid's arrow pierces him - deeply. Their courtship is a mixture of the bizarre, incongruous and unbelievable. (When Steven has an inmate beaten up because his late night screeching keeps them awake, Phillip thinks it is the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for him.)

I love you Phillip Morris, he screams, as Steven is transferred to another penitentiary but Steven soon finds a new scam and guise as he gets out of jail, pretends to be a lawyer, then a Chief Financial Officer, putting him in a good spot to direct funds when he wants them. The scams and guises become more and more outrageous and finally the façade is stripped away... Or is it?

This is a really interesting film - from the subject matter to the inspired performances. McGregor is utterly convincing as the wide-eyed, docile lover, while Carrey is extraordinary and at his shattering best.