''I Love You Phillip Morris'' is a 2009 English-language French

black comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the olde ...

based on a 1980s and 1990s real-life story of

con artist A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have def ...

impostor An impostor (also spelled imposter) is a person who pretends to be somebody else, often through means of disguise. Their objective is usually to try to gain financial or social advantages through social engineering, but also often for purposes ...

and multiple

prison escape A prison escape (referred as a bust out, breakout, jailbreak, or prison break) is the act of an inmate leaving prison through unofficial or illegal ways. Normally, when this occurs, an effort is made on the part of authorities to recapture the ...

e Steven Jay Russell, as played by

Jim Carrey James Eugene Carrey (; born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and artist. Known for his energetic slapstick performances, Carrey first gained recognition in 1990, after landing a role in the American sketch comedy te ...

. While incarcerated, Russell falls in love with his fellow inmate, Phillip Morris (

Ewan McGregor Ewan Gordon McGregor ( ; born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the BAFTA Britannia Humanitarian Award. In 2013, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British ...

). After Morris is released from prison, Russell escapes from prison four times to be reunited with Morris. The film was adapted from the 2003 book ''I Love You Phillip Morris: A True Story of Life, Love, and Prison Breaks'' by Steve McVicker. The film is the

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

John Requa John Requa (born January 1, 1967) is an American screenwriter (with Glenn Ficarra) of ''Cats & Dogs'', ''Bad Santa'' and the 2005 remake ''Bad News Bears''. The DVD commentary for ''Bad News Bears'' revealed that Requa was to have had a bit role ...

and

Glenn Ficarra Glenn Ficarra (born May 27, 1969) is an American filmmaker and actor. He frequently collaborated with John Requa. Life and career Ficarra met John Requa at Pratt Institute, where both were studying film. After college they went to work in anima ...

. It grossed $20 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews from critics. For their writing, Requa and Ficarra received a nomination for the

Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay The Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is one of the three screenwriting Writers Guild of America Awards, focused specifically for film. The Writers Guild of America began making the distinction between an original screenpl ...

Plot

Steven Jay Russell is on his deathbed, recalling the events of his life that led him to this point. He spent his early adult years in

Virginia Beach Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...

as a police officer. He plays the organ at church, has unenthusiastic sex with his wife, Debbie, and spends his off-hours searching for his biological mother, who had placed him for adoption as a child. Steven locates his biological mother, but she rejects him. He then quits the police force and moves to Texas and works for

Sysco Sysco Corporation (short for Systems and Services Company) is an American multinational corporation involved in marketing and distributing food products, smallwares, kitchen equipment and tabletop items to restaurants, healthcare and education ...

, the family business. After a car crash on the way from a homosexual tryst, Steven leaves his family and life behind, though he keeps in touch with his wife and young daughter, and explores the world as his true self – a gay man. He moves to

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, where he finds a boyfriend, Jimmy, and they adopt a luxurious

lifestyle Lifestyle often refers to: * Lifestyle (sociology), the way a person lives * ''Otium'', ancient Roman concept of a lifestyle * Style of life (german: Lebensstil, link=no), dealing with the dynamics of personality Lifestyle may also refer to: Bu ...

. To keep themselves in the style to which they have become accustomed, Steven becomes a con man. He is pursued by the police, and, after jumping off a parking garage, is sent to prison, where he falls in love with inmate Phillip Morris. Steven cannot bear to be separated from Phillip. After being released, he helps get Phillip freed from prison by posing as a lawyer, then attains wealth by fraudulently acquiring a position as Chief Financial Officer of a large medical management company called USAMM. Steven is eventually caught embezzling. While in the police car, he reminisces about Jimmy in Florida, dying of

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

. He asks the police for Phillip's

insulin Insulin (, from Latin ''insula'', 'island') is a peptide hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreatic islets encoded in humans by the ''INS'' gene. It is considered to be the main anabolic hormone of the body. It regulates the metabolism o ...

and injects himself. He goes back to prison, where Phillip is also sent as an accomplice and angrily tells Steven he never wants to see him again. Months later, Phillip learns from another inmate that Steven is dying of AIDS. Heartbroken, Phillip calls Steven while he is in the infirmary and confesses that, while he is still upset with Steven for lying to him, he still loves him. Phillip is later told that Steven has died. Sometime later, Phillip is taken to meet with his lawyer and finds Steven waiting for him. Steven describes how he faked dying of AIDS, to be allowed to see Phillip again, and promises never to lie to him again. He runs one last con to break Phillip out of prison, only to be caught when he runs into an old co-worker. The end of the movie explains that the real-life Phillip was released from prison in 2006; but Steven was given a life sentence and is in 23-hour lockup, only having one free hour a day to shower and exercise, which the film implies to be because an official involved in the sentencing had a brother-in-law who was conned by Russell. The last scene shows Steven laughing joyfully while running across the prison yard, guards in pursuit, in another attempt to be with Phillip.

Cast

In addition, Phillip Morris has an uncredited cameo as Steven's lawyer during the movie-end court scene.

Production

After original difficulty finding a U.S. distributor, likely due to its explicit gay sexual content, the film was re-edited. In May 2009, it was announced by ''Variety'' that Consolidated Pictures Group had acquired the rights for distribution. Portions of the film were filmed at the

Louisiana State Penitentiary The Louisiana State Penitentiary (known as Angola, and nicknamed the "Alcatraz of the South", "The Angola Plantation" and "The Farm"Sutton, Keith "Catfish".Out There: Angola angling. ''ESPN Outdoors''. May 31, 2006. Retrieved on August 25, 2010. ...

(also known as Angola) in

West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana West Feliciana Parish (French: ''Paroisse de Feliciana Ouest''; Spanish: ''Parroquia de West Feliciana'') is a civil parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2010 census, the population was 15,625, and 15,310 at the 2020 census. ...

. A Christian blogger stated that warden

Burl Cain Nathan Burl Cain (born July 2, 1942) is the commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections and the former warden at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola in West Feliciana Parish, north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He worked there ...

did not permit one sex scene between two male inmates to be filmed at the prison.Ridgeway, James. "God's Own Warden." ''

Mother Jones Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...

''. July/August 2011 Issue. p
2
Retrieved on March 23, 2013. The real Phillip Morris even appears in a cameo as Steven's lawyer in one scene.

Release

The film was released in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

between February and April 2010. Although a limited run in the United States was initially scheduled for April 30, 2010, it was later reported that the film's release had been indefinitely postponed by its distributors, Consolidated Pictures Group but on April 12, 2010, ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' announced the distributor had had a change of heart and that ''I Love You Phillip Morris'' would be shown in limited theaters starting July 30 before expanding nationwide on August 6. On June 3, 2010, the film was delayed yet again due to legal battles. The film was finally released on December 3, 2010, after

Roadside Attractions Roadside Attractions is an American production company and film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded on July 27, 2000, by Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff, specializing largely in independent films. Lionsgate Lions Gate ...

and Liddell Entertainment acquired the rights to distribute in the United States.

Box office

''I Love You Phillip Morris'' has a worldwide gross of $20,722,843 .

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

has a 71% critic rating based on 156 reviews and an average score of 6.6/10. The critical consensus is: "This fact-based romantic comedy has its flaws, but they're mostly overcome by its consistently sweet, funny tone and one of the best performances of Jim Carrey's career." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Steve Persall from the ''

Tampa Bay Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single y ...

'' wrote, "Think ''

Catch Me If You Can ''Catch Me If You Can'' is a 2002 American biographical crime comedy-drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks with Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams and James ...

'' mashed up with ''

Brokeback Mountain ''Brokeback Mountain'' is a 2005 American neo-Western romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee and produced by Diana Ossana and James Schamus. Adapted from the 1997 short story of the same name by Annie Proulx, the screenplay was written by O ...

'' if

Mel Brooks Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began h ...

directed and you'll get the idea." John Anderson of ''

'' remarked, "Less of a comedy than a hilarious tragedy, ''I Love You Phillip Morris'' stars Jim Carrey in his most complicated comedic role since ''

The Cable Guy ''The Cable Guy'' is a 1996 American black comedy film directed by Ben Stiller, written by Lou Holtz Jr. and starring Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick. It was released in the United States on June 14, 1996. The film co-stars Leslie Mann, Jack Bl ...

''." ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'' wrote, "One of the funniest films of the year, this is a wonderful mix of old-school Carrey outrageousness with a genuinely touching – and very modern – love story." Damon Wise of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' gave the film four stars out of five, stating, "''I Love You Phillip Morris'' is an extraordinary film that serves as a reminder of just how good Carrey can be when he's not tied into a generic Hollywood crowd-pleaser. His comic timing remains as exquisite as ever." Xan Brooks of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' also gave the film a positive review, describing the movie as "fast, funny and rather daring. A whisk of caffeine with a center that's sweet."

Italy controversy

The distribution and promotion of the film in Italy by its Italian distributor Lucky Red was strongly criticized. The advertising campaign (posters, trailers and TV commercials) was accused of minimizing the homosexual themes of the film to present it as a simple comedy, removing the romantic relationship between Steve and Phillip in the film with the aim of attracting a larger audience.

was removed from the billing list in the trailer. Lucky Red later claimed to have purchased from its distributor and production company

EuropaCorp EuropaCorp S.A. (stylised in opening logo as EUROPA CORP.) is a French motion picture company headquartered in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, and one of a few full service independent studios that both produces and distributes feature ...

as a "softer" version of the original, in which most of the homosexual sex scenes between the protagonists Steve and Phillip were removed.

Home media

The film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

and

Blu-ray Disc The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...

on April 5, 2011.

Soundtrack

''I Love You Phillip Morris: Original Soundtrack'' was composed by Nick Urata.

References

External links

* * * * *
Interview with Phillip Morris
fo
Gay Times

Interview with Glenn Ficarra and John Requa about I Love You Phillip Morris
a
ION Magazine
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