'I Love You Phillip Morris'

'I Love You Phillip Morris' (R) (2 stars)

Written and Directed By Glenn Ficarra and John Requa
Starring: Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor, Leslie Mann

I have to give "I Love You Phillip Morris" props for not holding back on the gay jokes when the backlash could be anger. The movie has a good running joke based on prison and oral sex and some other jokes that made me smile. Only the movie suffers from being too cute, light and quirky to the point that it becomes corny. Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor are very good and Jim Carrey's energy helps the role out. This movie was written by the same writers of the Christmas classic "Bad Santa". I like their willingness to just go nuts with the risky humor but here they fail to shock. The movie is based on a true story of Steven Russell who one day finds out he is gay. He realizes this while married with two kids. He leaves them all and moves but also finds out he is a natural con man. He runs many cons and one day he gets caught with identity theft and other crimes. In prison he falls in love with Phillip Morris who is in prison for a misdemeanor. The movie then goes off in all directions and never has a real drive or purpose. It is all jokes and no character development especially when the very funny and great Leslie Mann seems wasted. The love story is kind of bold and sweet and the actors do their best. I really think Jim Carey is excellent here but when you have a very talented writing crew who wrote a vulgar comedy classic you expect more (no pun intended) balls.