I Love Phillip Morris. A lot.

Yeah, yeah another film about gays.

Hell, what am I talking about? There are seriously no mainstream movies about gays out there. Except for Brokeback Mountain.

This time round, the pretty gay couple is played by the ridiculously funny Jim Carrey and a sweet little blonde guy named Ewan McGregor. I’m guessing you’ve heard of them.

Before I went to see I Love You Phillip Morris, I wasn’t expecting much. I’ll be honest. But I was really pleasantly surprised.

I thought it was going to be a sad story in which there were a few laughs but the gay con man would be subject to homophobia and rape and God knows what else.

How I was wrong.

I’m not going to tell you what happens, because it’ll spoil it. And I’m not going to tell you whether it’s a happy ending or a sad one, because I think you should go see this for yourselves.

Carrey plays Steven Russell, a real life gay con man, really rather expertly. He plays gay surprisingly well and somehow incorporates that hilarity that he exudes into a really serious storyline. Always a winner.

McGregor also plays his lover, Phillip, quite well also. He brings a sensitive, innocent character to the film, which is much needed against the sly, craziness of Russell.

Whilst watching, you will feel a sense of sadness, guilt, humour and peace all rolled into one. You forget that the story is actually a real life one, but when you think about it again, you realize that the story is actually quite heart-breaking, yet sickly sweet at the same time. In a good way.

I’m pretty sure if the lead was played by anyone other than Carrey, there’d be nowhere near as much humour. You can sort of tell that some of the jokes were improvised and totally his idea. I enjoy most of Carrey’s work in this way. Liar Liar, Bruce Almighty and The Truman Show are all great examples of his effortless comedic talent and I appreciate him wholly for that.

Plus, he has a hot, hot wife. In real life, of course.

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