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Movie Takes
I Love You Phillip Morris
Jim Carrey in his best role since playing in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
I Love You Phillip Morris, a collaborative directorial and writing effort by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa based on a book by Steve McVicker, obviously made a lot of American distributors nervous. Though a thoroughly American film that was a big hit at Sundance nearly two years ago, it was released first in Europe way last spring. My guess is that its portrayal of its gay hero, a real life con-man named Steven Russell, played here by Jim Carrey in his best role since that of Joel Barish in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, didn’t fit comfortably enough into the politically correct gay stereotypes — or the politically incorrect ones either, for that matter — for American audiences to know quite what to make of it. That must be why the film is prefaced with a printed notice that “This really happened” — followed, a few seconds later, by another: “It really did.” Well, maybe not this, precisely, but something near enough to it that you would be equally astonished at the outrage to your pre-conceived notions about gay people.
That this is a story about being gay, first and foremost, I don’t think there can be any doubt, and it is in some ways a typical gay narrative, told in flashback and with Mr. Carrey’s voiceover from what purports to be his character’s deathbed. Raised by conservative adoptive parents in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Mr. Russell is seen growing up to be a policeman, a Christian evangelical of some description and a dutiful husband and father, a point underlined when we see him and his wife, Debbie (Leslie Mann), praying together — though the words are Debbie’s and include effusive thanks to God for such an ideal husband — at the foot of their bed before retiring for the night and then engaging in a very unerotic act of sexual intercourse.
Steve interrupts the proceedings by telling Debbie of how he is using the entré given him by his badge to search for his birth mother, a woman named Barbara Bascombe (Marylouise Burke) who sold him to his adoptive parents in a parking lot for a paper bag full of cash. In a subsequent scene, his search has an unhappy but darkly funny conclusion as he calls out to this long lost mother, who is celebrating the birthday of one of his two long-lost brothers behind a firmly-locked door: “I was the middle child! What was wrong with me?” Soon afterwards, we again see him in a sex act in which his partner is suddenly revealed to be a man. “Oh, did I forget to say I’m gay?” he says in voiceover.
Well, it’s the old story. He had tried to conform to society’s norms but eventually got sick of “living a lie.” After a car accident in which he is badly injured, we see him being loaded all covered in blood into the back of an ambulance and announcing to the paramedics: “I’m going to be a fag! A big fag!” You couldn’t say that this is represented as a pure “lifestyle” choice, of course, as Steve dutifully insists that in choosing to be a big fag he is choosing to be “the real me.” But it is also the case that the idea of “the real me” swiftly becomes problematical in other ways. Once he has left his wife and daughter and taken up with a lover named Jimmy (Rodrigo Santoro), he adds: “Nobody tells you this, but being gay is really expensive” — and so begins his criminal career.
Debbie, who remains on good terms with Steven after they have split up, is meant to be seen as an air-head, of course, and nowhere more so than when she inquires of one of the detectives during her ex-husband’s first arrest for credit card fraud, “Is the gay thing and stealing, are they something that goes together?” Yet of course the film cannot avoid showing us how “the gay thing” and stealing do go together in Steven’s case — at least insofar as both involve his assuming alternative identities in order for him to get what he wants. At some level, the film at least hints at an assimilation of the “gay” persona with that of his con-man disguises as different iterations of the same American story of self-invention and re-invention.
In prison, Steven meets the eponymous Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor), the love of his life, and their courtship is both touching and funny. I particularly liked their slow-dancing together to Johnny Mathis singing “Chances Are” after lights out as their butch neighbor fights off a whole shift of prison guards to keep the music on because he has been paid to do so. As he is being beaten up off-screen, he keeps repeating as Johnny keeps singing, “My word is my bond!” But this practiced liar and con-man lies to and cons Phillip as well — perhaps because there is simply no obvious place to stop once you accept, as we are encouraged to accept here, that people ought to have a virtually limitless right of self-invention. “How can I love you when I don’t even know who you are?” says Phillip reproachfully when he becomes another of Steven’s victims.
But Steven doesn’t know who he is either, and the point of the film is that this hardly seems to matter. Being “who I am” — as the gays who have now succeeded in ending “Don’t ask, don’t tell” in the name of being it invariably say — turns out not to be the real issue after all. It’s not being who I am but who I want to be. The problem with the film, which is so enjoyable in so many ways, is that it doesn’t have any problem with this. It is happy to be as indulgent with Steven’s criminal career as it is with his homosexuality — which means that, having brought up the matter of making moral choices (or choices that are inevitably fraught with moral meaning), it then refuses to take them seriously.
Instead, at the end, it takes a gratuitous swipe at George W. Bush, who happened to be the Governor of Texas at the time that the real life Steven Russell was sent to prison there for 144 years. Unlike Brokeback Mountain, which applies the romantic notion of fatal and tragic love to a gay relationship by treating its gayness as being merely adventitious, I Love You Phillip Morris is more optimistic and more American in its apparent commitment to the view that we choose our own fate and that being gay is, therefore, also something to be chosen and not merely to be endured. Then at the end to turn around suddenly and make Steven a victim of wicked Republican “law-and-order” types or perhaps even, God help us, “the system” is a bit of vulgar sophism, a way of easy escape from the real problems it raises, that is unworthy of a movie which otherwise seems to aspire to moral seriousness about the choices people make.
About the Author
James Bowman, our movie and culture critic, is a resident scholar at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He is the author of Honor: A History and Media Madness: The Corruption of Our Political Culture, both published by Encounter Books.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (46) | Leave a comment
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Booger| 12.21.10 @ 6:04AM
"Sir, have you no shame?" None at all, I suppose.
Alan Brooks| 12.21.10 @ 2:29PM
Very postmodern, this flick.
Booger| 12.21.10 @ 6:04AM
"Sir, have you no shame?" None at all, I suppose.
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P.Smith| 12.21.10 @ 7:47AM
"Sir, have you no shame?" None at all, I suppose.
PJ| 12.21.10 @ 9:00AM
Who would think--- Gays can be just like the heterosexual population. They can be thieves, liars, con-artists....not just the "martyrs" so often portrayed in the mass media.
John McG| 12.21.10 @ 9:03AM
Let us now praise vile men. Not content with all their other victories -- marriage, DADT, high school productions of "The Laramie Project" -- the homosexual activists now throw another log on the fire, and Mr. Bowman would have us admire how brightly it burns. In this season, I'd rather turn my eyes to the manger and pray for goodwill toward men, a goodwill that respects mankind, not one using its tolerance to destroy it.
Dan Hirsch| 12.21.10 @ 9:15AM
John,
In the spirit of the season, you should cut Mr. Bowman some slack. After all, his bio says "James Bowman is a resident scholar..." You probably have (had?) a real job and don't appreciate the efforts of the 'educated' to enlighten you on how cute and entertaining the destruction of our culture can be. Hey, if your gonna be raped, you might as well enjoy it!
Sheesh! This crap is everywhere. Mr. Bowman, find a real job, sir.
The Bishop| 12.21.10 @ 9:25AM
Amen!
Too Many Tims| 12.21.10 @ 10:01AM
Did you guys even read the review?
" It is happy to be as indulgent with Steven's criminal career as it is with his homosexuality -- which means that, having brought up the matter of making moral choices (or choices that are inevitably fraught with moral meaning), it then refuses to take them seriously...
...(the movie) is a bit of vulgar sophism, a way of easy escape from the real problems it raises, that is unworthy of a movie which otherwise seems to aspire to moral seriousness about the choices people make."
John McG| 12.21.10 @ 10:42AM
>> Did you guys even read the review?
Yes, of course. My point was not to cavil over the finer details of Bowman's review but voice frustration about the widening trend to parse deviant behavior to find redeeming bits. None of the areas I cited above is morally neutral. Gaining footholds among them is essential in this attack on society, and the effects have been recounted many times in these pages. Here, for example: http://tinyurl.com/37353tl
For this reason, I see this movie review as more than a review. Intentionally or not, it helps dull the senses to the way a compassionate understanding of homosexuality is used to destroy essential institutions.
Anna K. from Emory U.| 12.21.10 @ 1:20PM
A few political science students at Emory monitor political blogs, both Extreme Right and Extreme Left, and they alert me to particular posts from readers that are examples of bigotry and hatred toward minority groups and individuals.
I am often directed to American Spectator, as I was this morning.
I must say that I am distressed and puzzled over the vicious, malevelolent remarks made about gays on this page.
For the life of me, I cannot understand the hatred, and I don't know what can be done about it except do what I am doing, that is to point it out.
Evidently you do not know the kind of generous, intelligent, productive gays that I know here in Atlanta, who contribute so much to our communities. If you only got to know a few gays, you would let go of your blind bigotry.
I am sorry for you individuals who are so full of hate. Hatred is extremely toxic to the mind and body.
This Christmas let's all try to embrace the Christmas Spirit of love and compassion and peaceful brotherhood.
Let's do it in Christ's name. Amen.
A Balrog of Morgoth| 12.21.10 @ 2:01PM
How very sanctimonious of you. I am sure you will win many converts with your priggish bromides and well-pummeled strawmen.
Too Many Tims| 12.21.10 @ 2:08PM
You write "gay" and everything comes unglued. Bruce Banner Hulks out, Lon Chaney sprouts fangs... suddenly the people around you become unrecognizable monsters.
Occam's Tool| 12.21.10 @ 3:18PM
Dear Anna,
let us get away from the "gay" comments for a moment.
Aren't you the same person who wrote about the pagan derivation of Christmas on the week OF Christmas? Oh yeah, this is apropos: "before you remove the mote from your brother's eye, note the beam in thine own."
simon templar| 12.21.10 @ 4:01PM
Anna K, I really do not even know where to start in addressing your manipulative, deceptive, and falsely sanctimonius comments. Lets start with the first falsehood. The vast majority of the readership of this site including its writers and editors do not hate homosexuals. What they do dislike is a small segment of this society, namely Hollywood and the American Left, unrelenting HATEFUL attack on traditional values, christianity, law enforcement, and the family. So, when we have just another movie in a long stream of attacks being released during the Christmas season..yes we noticed..people tend to get a little bent out of shape. What really irks us is when someone like you call us bigots and hate mongers because we object to this attack on our values..values that the majority of this country still hold very dear. You will be surprised to hear that we conservatives really do not care about what consenting adults do in private. We do not seek to pass laws to discriminate or hurt homosexuals even though many of us..particulary christians do not personally approve of these sexual practices and find them offensive due to their religious beliefs.
Christian conservatives do not seek to harm homosexuals nor do they hate them. There are "gay" conservatives...some of them very famous media personalities. What makes them different? Well, for starters, they do not make their gayness an issue, shove it in other peoples faces, attack others beliefs, or disrespect traditional values, nor do they believe that others must be interested in their sexual lives. They correctly see it as irrevelant. The second falsehood you use to bolster your argument is the reference to Christ. This is the one that I find the most manipulative and disingenuos.
Evanston2| 12.21.10 @ 8:26PM
Agreed. Anna's post was very amusing, until she wrote "This Christmas let's all try to embrace the Christmas Spirit of love and compassion and peaceful brotherhood." The Christmas spirit is about how God humiliated Himself to live the life of a man and get executed by the most religious people (Jews) and most scientific, multicultural (Roman) people of their day to pay for our sins. Anna, if you don't accept this Christ, do not speak of Christmas. Just put up your tree, your Santa display, and enjoy the good while it lasts.
Cris| 12.21.10 @ 10:44PM
To heck with movies and gays. Let's play a new game:
GUESS ANNA'S MAJOR!!
Jim| 12.21.10 @ 11:06PM
Uh, Economics? Nah, probly not. :)
Fort Benning Soldier| 12.21.10 @ 11:17AM
Same old gay-hate shit from AmSpec.
Bowman toes the right-wing mantra when he writes " . . . being gay is, therefore, also something to be chosen . . ."
This is a lie and Bowman knows it. One does not "choose" to be gay, just as one does not "choose" to be straight. Biology (mainly biology) and early-age environment condition your sexual orientation. Period.
Get over it!
PJ| 12.21.10 @ 11:34AM
FBS,
Only "early-age environment" decides sexual orientation. Don't give any Hitler Jrs any ideas, please!
oolong| 12.21.10 @ 11:37AM
Lots and lots of Hitler Jrs on this page. Take a look at the responses. Nazis on parage. But that's okay with A.S.
simon templar| 12.21.10 @ 4:25PM
Yeah, we get a lot of left wing trolls out here posing as readers and conservatives..and you can literally guess when they start hitting this web site when certain articles appear on certain subjects. What are you doing here..for instance? Just for the record...history..remember that...has shown that hatred for homosexuals, jews, gypsies, christians, and just about every minority you can think of is the modis operanda of the socialist left not American conservatism!
Seek| 12.21.10 @ 7:47PM
What hath Jonah Goldberg wrought?
There are fewer notions more dishonest these days than the one proclaiming the Right as having completely clean hands -- "bigotry" and "genocide," don't you know, are gifts from the Left.
I hate to disappoint some sports fans here, but Nazism and its variants are phenomena of the Right. Rewriting history won't make that go away. You might as well deal with it. And, no, I'm not a homo.
Simon Templar| 12.22.10 @ 12:20PM
National SOCIALIST WORKERS Party!
Evanston2| 12.21.10 @ 8:34PM
Look at "Seek's" post, below. While Jew-hatred is embraced by the Left in Europe, Canada, and on campus in America he/she is blind to it. One thing that also entertains is the titles people give themselves, like "Fort Benning Soldier." Even if the reader grants that you were in the service, and did so honorably (thanks to DADT or its precursors), what does this have to do with the supposed biological basis for homosexuality? To this day no gene has been discovered for this. The so-called intellectual argument consists of endless, screaming repetition of an assertion. It's nice to have no responsibility for your behavior, isn't it? That seems to be the "moral of the story" from the movie I Love You Phillip Morris, isn't it?
simon templar| 12.21.10 @ 4:17PM
Once again, for the millionth time, There is no scientific evidence that homosexuality is biological... there is no gay gene! You like millions of other useful idiots picked up this idea from three faulty unscientific studies done in the 1990's that made it unto the human interest pages of slop media outlets which successfully spun these findings to support their political agendas. Scientific controlled studies on genetically identical twins have been done since then verifiably disputing this claim.
Tia| 12.21.10 @ 11:20AM
Go crawl back into your Neanderthal cave, John McG, and stay there.
uy67#2| 12.21.10 @ 11:28AM
Yeah, "a goodwill that respects mankind," but that don't mean weh have to respect faggots.
Let's all kill the goddamn faggots! Kill 'em for Christmas!
Eric| 12.21.10 @ 11:28AM
I'm with you man!
B G| 12.21.10 @ 11:30AM
jCount me in. Throw the queers on the yule log and let them roast. Let them toast.
7 & 8 & Heil| 12.21.10 @ 11:33AM
The Third Reich knew what to do with Germany's queers. Why don't we teapartiers form a 3rd Reich? We could pass some legislation to put them in their place real fast.
Joe| 12.21.10 @ 11:35AM
Amen Captain!
simon templar| 12.21.10 @ 4:29PM
Eric, uy67, BG, 7&8 : Having fun?..now slither back to the Huffington Post! You are not fooling anyone here.
Evanston2| 12.21.10 @ 8:37PM
Exactly right Simon. The methodology appears to be for the HuffPo trolls to write something about Christianity, then replace the word "Christian" with "homo" and the like, then post here. Oh well, everyone needs a hobby.
Paul D| 12.21.10 @ 10:12AM
Er, tell me again...why should I watch this movie?
LarryK| 12.21.10 @ 10:22AM
for the T&A
oops wrong movie
L. Ross| 12.21.10 @ 10:25AM
Well, for what it is worth, I just read the wikipedia page on Steven Rusell and I couldn't believe the stuff this guy got away with. Sounds like movie material to me. Makes "Catch Me if You Can" look like kindergarten stuff.
grant1863| 12.21.10 @ 10:42AM
the real life person in Catch me if you can has repented and I believe paid back a lot of the money taken. Doubtful if Mr. Russell will be doing the same. High IQ doesn't seem to come with high ethics.
breffnian| 12.21.10 @ 1:33PM
The reviewer makes a really good point when he says "the point is not who I am but who I want to be".
And that's the whole point behind gay "marriage". Gays want their relationships to be accepted the same way straight ones are, in other words they want to be "like us" in some ways while at the same time insisting on being different.
But they can't have it both ways.
Joe D.| 12.21.10 @ 2:08PM
James Bowman spear us your ignorance. No one is born that way. There is too much documented evidence to the contrary. And every report supporting this idea of being gay has been proven wrong or worse fausified. So please don't print this stupidity again. We can get this stupidity from the Huffington Post.
Mazzuchelli| 12.21.10 @ 3:53PM
I didn't want in their bedrooms in the first place. At some point I'm hoping they will go about their business so I can once again go about mine.
Jimmy D| 12.21.10 @ 6:05PM
What is all this name calling.
There are real values and faithfullness to them leads to life. There are false values and their seductive influences lead to endless grief. There is not a God-seeded Soul that does not know this as true. It is our inate inborn understanding. And there is not a man, but Christ, who has not been deceived, who does not lie daily upon the false premise of his own mastery.
TODO| 12.22.10 @ 6:04AM
Thanks once again for examining every molecule of crap in a movie without an interesting story that could make me spend 10 bucks and 2 hours of my life watching it at a theater. I'll be sure to pass on this one, too. I might try it out down the road when it hits my local library for free.