“This winter, the Grinch is all up on Obi-wan.”
Perhaps it’s the rain. Perhaps it’s the result of seeing every single Alameda County Transit bus stop advertising Rapunzel’s hair. Perhaps you’re simply trying to divert everyone’s attention from the impending doom that Daniel Radcliffe faces at the climax of his lark in the woods. Whatever it is, you’ll want a different movie to last you until July. And instead of waiting for the Warners Brothers and Century 21 Fox to shove some more obnoxious titles in your face, why not try something a little different?
Among the group of fanatics bumming around each and every screening and re-screening of Potter’s Last Stand and wangsty one sheets displaying Natalie Portman trussed up like a Christmas ornament, there is a jewel on limited release. It’s playing in select theaters only, after having fought lawsuit after lawsuit and censorship between censorships from several boards of film. It was launched in the United States on Dec. 3 2010, nearly two years after its initial debut at the Sundance Film Festival in Jan. 2009.
I Love You Phillip Morris is a raunchy half-sex half-love 100-percent- comedy starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor as star-crossed lovers—feel-good romantic music, fancy steak dinners, post-coital declarations of love and all. And –if the idea hasn’t blown your mind already– it takes place within a Texas correctional facility.
This is a movie that has delighted critics and found romance in the oddest corners of the world. Based off the true story of Steven Jay Russell, an ex-conman who (in real life) has been in 23-hour lockdown in a state prison since the 80′s, the tale is one of an unlikely great love that blossomed between a flamboyantly-gay conman and his honey bunny in prison. A surprising twist at the end of the story leaves the audience perplexed and caught between either laughing their balls off, or crying their balls out.
If movies represented real people, then Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows would be the perfect A-student who parties hard with Inception and Avatar on the weekends. Why not try for a different taste this weekend? Hang out with the refreshing Phillip Morris, and be prepared to laugh out loud.
(Obligatory warning: Phillip Morris has been rated R for explicit scenes, profanity, and simply having too much fun dicking around with the media)
