ACCUSATION: Unmarketable.
DEFENSE: Unmissable.
Go ahead and wiki Steven Jay Russell here. Or better yet, read the excellent Esquire article about his vida loca or the book written by Steve McVicker. Good material for a movie, no doubt. But risky. In the hands of the writing team of Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (Bad Santa), one could only expect a film as outrageous as the con man himself. They graduate to a directorial debut with a masterpiece of a movie, that’s also happens to be the most risqué release of the year.
After being put through repeated distribution turmoil for nearly two years, I Love You, Phillip Morris finally hits US screens in a limited release on December 3rd. Already pulling in a respectable $18 Million in tickets abroad, gathering praise at high profile engagements in Cannes and Sundance and featuring a never better Jim Carrey should insure box office success. So what’s the deal? Oh, did I forget to mention that the main character is gay?! Gay, gay, gay, gay, gay. Yep. Jim Carrey plays a gay guy. Ewan McGregor too. And they are in love. In prison for most of the film. Never underestimating the American public’s ability to handle such a set up, most Hollywood studios passed.
Many of the studios asked if the screenwriters could change Phillip to a female character. And actually, with a few changes, you could easily have a hybrid of Liar, Liar and Fun with Dick and Jane on your hands. While changing the major characters would have made for a much more lucrative commercial success, the filmmakers wrote a script on spec, attracted the major talent, raised International financing (including funds from Luc Besson, no less) and pushed forward to produce something beyond brave.
This isn’t an “issue” movie, it’s a movie with a very strong lead character only enhanced by its very strong leading actor. Carrey takes his talent to new heights, bringing expert comic timing as he’s known to do, but adding something much more profound. And for first time directors, the duo is able to set a tone that is not only sharp, but narratively a con itself. There’s so much unusual attention to the blueprint of the storytelling, these guys could make Inception as a comedy.
Pathos effortlessly melds into parody, sending up the expectations of your standard Hollywood fare dealing with such serious topics as AIDS, financial fraud, gay rights and, really, love itself. What more could you want from your Jim Carrey vehicle?
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