The One Jim Carrey Movie to Hate: I Love You Philip Morris

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It’s nice to run into a life-changing, ground-breaking movie every once in a while but usually, most of us just really want to be entertained. And what better entertainer than Jim Carrey?  He is my favorite comedian, one of my favorite actors and while I might not be in love with all his movies, this is the first Jim Carrey movie I couldn’t watch. Literally. I just couldn’t take it more than 40 minutes or so. And I tried. I really did.

First of all, this is not a gay love story, if any of you were misled into thinking so. OK, there are two gay guys falling for each other at one point but by the time Jim Carrey met Ewan McGregor’s Philip Morris,

I had given hope on the whole movie. Here is what happens:

Steven Russell starts out as your average nice and honest guy. He is a cop, he is married and he has a daughter. Things pretty much go downhill from the moment he finds and fails to connect with his birth mother. He quits the force, moves his family away and gets another job. We already knew he was really robotic when it came to sex and while I know Jim Carrey was never shy, I wasn’t expecting to see the scene with the moustache guy. Seriously. It was pure, animalistic, riding each other sort of sex and yes, as a person who thought Brokeback Mountain wasn’t romantic and lovely at all, I really despised the scene.  It doesn’t help the fact that he did while he was married and all. Just when you (try to) forget about the scene, he moves to Florida and be totally gay (like that scene wasn’t gay enough) and becomes the cliché of a shopping addict, feminine and superficial gay guy. Hollywood loves this portrayal. Anyway, he is in fact so hung up on the lifestyle, he gets into being a con man and ends up in jail- where he meets Philip Morris. And if you taught Jim’s character was unlikable, it is unbearable to watch Ewan’s extra coy and feminine persona…

If there is some deep message in the movie I didn’t see it. I didn’t like any of the characters, was really bored, sense of humor was crude and I am not even sure if there was a sense of humor. It is not like I am against gay love stories. Three such films are among my favorites: Shelter, Latter Days and Touch of Pink. And I have no problem against the unconventional. I loved Soldier’s Girl.

My point is, I am not exactly a harsh critic. But I just hated this film. And if you agreed with at least one of my movie reviews, you probably won’t be liking this movie either. If you like Jim Carrey or at least want to see his good movies, check out:

10 Funniest Movie Ever: Laugh Till Your Ribs Hurt

Here’s a tribute to Jim:

Favorite Canadians, Part 2: Jim Carrey