I Love You, Phillip Morris

If you wanted to make a movie about the life of Steven Russell, you might start with this question: Could we cast Jim Carrey? You would need an actor who can appear both instantly lovable and always up to no good. That “I Love You, Phillip Morris,” released in 2010, is based on a true story is relevant only because it is too outrageous to be fiction. Russell is a con man, and his lifelong scam is selling himself to himself.

All of this starts when he finds out he isn’t who he thought he was. His parents tell him he is adopted. Roger Ebert said in his review, “My notion is that if you love your parents, and they tell you you're adopted, you'd love them even more. It doesn't work that way for Steven Russell. Once that rug has been pulled from beneath his feet, he sets about creating a new reality for himself.” He becomes a police officer. He marries Debbie, played by Leslie Mann, as good as a toothpaste model. They have two children. He plays the church organ. He is a poster boy for truth, justice and the American way.

Continuing to find the truth, he finds out who his birth mother is. As some may predict, she is a disappointment. After a traumatic accident, he has time in the hospital to look at his entire life being made out of other people’s spare parts. Who is he really? He decides he is gay. Not only gay but flamboyantly, stereotypically gay, and soon living with a Latin lover, played by Rodrigo Santoro, on Miami’s South Beach. He beings to pass checks and falsely use credit cards to finance their rich lifestyle.

Ebert said, “Now when I wrote "he decides he is gay,” did some of you think you don't "decide” to be gay — you simply are, or are not? I believe that's the case almost all the time. I'm not completely sure about Steven Russell. The movie reveals him as an invention, an improvisation, constantly in rehearsal to mislead the world because he has a need to deceive. Who could be less like a church-going cop and family man than a South Beach playboy? Does he like gay sex? Yes, and very energetically, indeed. Does he like straight sex? You bet he does. He can sell himself on anything. I think gay sex is the easier sell here.”

The method of “I Love You, Phillip Morris” gives great amount of plot and then holds them at arm’s length. This isn’t really about plot. Plot are scenarios that characters are involved in. Steven Russell improvises his own scenario, so that most of what happens is his own work in one way or another. Carrey makes the role seem easy. He cheats as naturally as others breathe.

The authorities have a supporting role. He keeps breaking the law, and they keep arresting him. After he’s in prison for theft and fraud, life changes when he’s given a new cellmate: Phillip Morris, played by a blond Ewan McGregor as we’ve never seen him before. He falls in love. Or maybe, as the song puts it, he falls in love with love. After he’s released, he creates a new identity, a lawyer, and floats this trick with a single amount of proof to pull off a stunt that gets Phillip out of prison. McGregor rises to this role like an impressed babe.

Undeniably, Phillip is in love with Steven. However, he is slow to understand the wisdom and density of Steven’s creations. He’s a sweet, naïve kid with a Southern accent and not the smartest guy out there. He’s a witness as Steven steals a lot from a health-care organization that has possibly never even hired him. Steven is soon back in prison, and the movie unfolds into a series of increasingly daring and convoluted confidence schemes.

Ebert noted, “All of this, as I said, is based on Russell's own story, as written by Steve McVicker of the Houston Press. Russell imitated doctors, lawyers, FBI agents and the CFO of a health-care company. He convinced prison officials he had died of AIDS and later successfully faked a heart attack. He escaped from jail four times (hint: always on a Friday the 13^th). He is now serving 144 years in Texas in maximum security and solitary confinement, which sees a little much for a man who never killed anyone and stole a lot less money than the officers of Enron.

This is another movie everyone should see. If you’re a fan of Carrey and McGregor, then this is one you should check out. It’s really good, but like all nonfictional movies, I don’t know how closely this follows the life of Russell. I never knew anything about the man, but that’s probably because when he was sentenced to 144 years in Texas, I was a child when they made that verdict. All of that aside, you should still see this movie because it is a good one.

Look out next week to see what I will end “Pride Month” off with.