This is a love story about a man who committed identity theft, insurance fraud, and escaped from prison four times. The story is true. The real Steven Russell, having soundly humiliated Texas’ prison system, is now in 23-hour solitary confinement, serving a 144-year sentence. I’ve heard he was able to watch clips of this film in prison, and remarked at its accuracy. I Love You Phillip Morris, the directorial debut of John Requa and Glenn Ficarra, is ludicrous. It’s also funny, and endearing.

Jim Carrey plays Steve, effectively combining the selfishness and cartoon wackiness of his characters in Bruce Almighty and the The Mask with the romantic vulnerability of his characters in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Truman Show.

Steve starts out as an upstanding citizen. He is a good father to his daughter, a good husband to his wife (Leslie Mann), works as a policeman, and goes to church. One day, he finds himself being pulled out of the smoking wreckage of a car accident, and decides he’s had enough. As the paramedics lift him on to the stretcher, he laughs hysterically, and screams at the top of his lungs, “I’m a faggot!”

He moves to Florida, where he takes up with a beautiful Latino man named Jimmy (Rodrigo Santoro), and begins frequenting gay nightclubs and purchasing patterned scarves with money he doesn’t have. Eventually, he ends up in prison. There, he meets his soul mate.

Over the heads of jeering men and a ferocious prison fight, Steve spots Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor). They begin exchanging letters, and after an appropriate amount of courtship, kind and gentle Phillip smiles and says, “Enough romance. Let’s fuck”. Phillip, who was sent to prison for failing to return a rental car, is an innocent accessory in Steve’s schemes. It takes him a while to realize the extent of Steve’s cunning and amorality.

Steve lies with such ease that it’s difficult to hold a grudge against him. Most people would worry if one lie led to many more. Steve delights in seeing how far each lie can stretch. He understands, as the best liars do, that the most believable falsehoods are those too outrageous to question. The film is also built upon that principle. The more unlikely the story becomes, the more we are forced to accept it as truth.

McGregor is always likeable, but is astonishingly in this film for absolute, aching sweetness. Carrey uses his considerable talents to show us at last that he can play serious and comedic in the same film. I Love You Phillip Morris won’t fail to surprise, or to delight.

Blu-ray special features include filmmaker commentary, the making of the film, deleted scenes, and theatrical trailers. The

commentary is interesting, with anecdotes from the set and insight into the difficulties of making a low-budget film. The deleted scenes are also substantial; they’re good enough that I wonder why they were cut. Take the time to enjoy these extras.