I Love You Phillip Morris
Opens: February 5th 2010
Cast: Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor, Leslie Mann, Rodrigo Santoro
Director: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa

Summary: A fact-based film about Steven Russell, a married father whose exploits landed him in the Texas criminal justice system. He fell madly in love with his male cellmate, who eventually was set free, which led Russell to escape from Texas prisons four times.

Analysis: Premiering last year at Sundance as one of the hot tickets of the festival, reviews proved good but mixed with some saying the film is an oddly conventional Hollywood rom-com, despite its gay and true story angles, and is tamer than expected considering it’s from the same guys who brought us “Bad Santa”.

Others however, most notably distributors, balked at the film’s inconsistent tone and unapologetic depiction of all-male love from Carrey & McGregor’s tender romantic kisses to comedically-toned graphic sex between Carrey and various one-night stands. Struggling for many months to find someone to open it, Consolidated Pictures Group was the indie group with the balls to step up and set a release for February in the US.

Still, despite scoring the best reviews of a Carrey comedy in years, it’s not expected to fly at all with audiences beyond a certain niche as mainstream audiences avoid ‘gay’-themed films out of hate, fear, or most commonly sheer disinterest. It reminds me of the sad testament that the notoriously homophobic “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry” took in twice as much money as Oscar nominee “Brokeback Mountain”.

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