What He Did for Love

I Love You Phillip Morris begins with the statement, "This really happened." And it sets the tone appropriately, because the story that's told in this movie is so absurd, so unbelievable, that it just has to be true — and it is. Steven Jay Russell (Jim Carrey) is a charming, charismatic con man who gets sent to prison for fraud and meets Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor). The two fall in love, and Russell attempts con after con to free Phillip and build a perfect life with him.

Written and directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, the pair behind the equally twisted Bad Santa, Phillip Morris is an offbeat love story, to put it mildly. It gives Carrey one of his best roles in years, and he does a nice job with it. The film has some good laughs, some charming moments, and again, it's so unusual, so absurd, that I found it quite enjoyable. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, and in those cases, it makes for fun films. I'm giving Phillip Morris a B+.