Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, the movie is based on the real story of a con man played by Jim Carey, who meets his soul-mate in prison. The action begins when the two begin to elaborate escapes and masquerades to be set free.

 

The first quarter hour of 'I Love You Phillip Morris' comes with intense action, presenting Steven, a young boy abandoned by his mother who finds out that he has been adopted. After promising himself to be the best man he can, he becomes a Georgia policeman as a grown up, plays the church organ, and marries Debbie, embodied by Leslie Mann. Soon enough Steven becomes father of two children and tries to find his real mother (Mary Louise Burke) by means of police computer but the woman rejects him.  Following such an episode, he decides to make up for all the lost years of a straight-arrow, heterosexual life by plunging headfirst into multiple lives as con man and lover. Actually, from a psychological point of view he is undertaking to find his real identity.

 

A charmer Steve proves himself to be very enthusiastic about embracing the high-gay lifestyle which included vacationing, accessorizing, spending, dining, prowling. Therefore, he moves to Florida with his flamboyant boyfriend played by Rodrigo Santoro. As he discovers that being gay is actually a very expensive matter, he embraces all kinds of masquerades, frauds, collecting maxed-out credit cards, which eventually only help him to find his way behind bars. In prison he falls madly in love with his blue-eyed, blond-haired cell mate, Phillip Morris, a character embodied by Ewan McGregor.

The gentile inmate becomes the motivating factor of Steven’s life therefore the latter will become able to do the craziest and most elaborate escape plans for the couple in order to gain freedom. At some point he manages to get out of jail by posing as an undercover cop dressed as a male prostitute in hot pants and fishnet stockings.

 

Carrey and McGregor make a nice couple as playing their love story with sweetness, passion and devotion. But in spite of all the hot scenes with kissing and everything between the two actors, Carrey's performance as a flimflammer is deliciously funny. His comedic versatility and impersonations are absolutely amazing, and he manages to become really powerful within his character’s experiences of the past. On the other hand, his co-star is sympathetic and vulnerable, almost as if he were constantly ready to be heartbroken. Both in jail and out, the two characters try to have a conventional romantic relationship.

 

Ewan McGregor said that most of the film was shot in real prisons and that the inmates in the picture were real prisoners.