Jim Carrey Gay role in 'I love you Phillip Morris' praised

LOS ANGELES, USA - Jim Carrey's new film outing in 'I love you Phillip Morris' is receiving early praise as it opens in theatres nationwide today.

No stranger to the controversial, the slapstick funny and the unconventional, Jim Carrey didn't hesitate to take the role. The film depicts the story of Steven Russell,   a gay con artist who meets the love of his life in prison, and sets to find true happiness in life.

Mirroring the controversy of 'Brokeback Mountain' Jim Carrey's latest outing is another triumph for the actor who makes intriguing choices for roles, and sets his comedy standard very high. 'I love you Phillip Morris' initially was originally declined by major distributors because of its sexually explicity scenes that were deemed too riské for mainstream audiences.

The casting put together Carrey and Ewan McGregor, famous for his role in British sleeper hit 'Trainspotting'. When asked about the film McGregor said : "I'm very keen that it's a gay movie. There was quite a lot of talk at Sundance (in 2009) that 'Well, it's not a gay movie. It's a film about guys who happen to be gay.' And I was thinking, it's nothing but a gay movie. It's about a gay couple, about a man's sexuality, and he comes out. It's not the point of the film, but let's not pretend it's not a gay film. I like kissing boys on screen. As a straight guy, it's quite an interesting proposition. Anything on a film set that takes you by surprise like that, that gets your blood up, is good."

Jim Carrey, in an interview with the Chicago Tribune said : "As soon as I read the script, it was like 'Eternal Sunshine' and it was like 'Truman Show.' It was a no-brainer for me that I had to do it. There were some people in my life that were saying, "You really want to do that? You really want to do that scene? I mean, honestly, that's going to stick in people's minds." And I said, "Exactly. I want to do things that stick in people's minds."

Reviews for I love you Phillip Morris

So far the critics have been very positive about the comedy.

Collider.com - "The film is at turns satirical, goofy, and broad, but it works best when it goes dark.   There s a delightful mean streak running through I Love You Phillip Morris, but directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa skillfully mange to keep it from falling into cynics"

Indiewire.com - "he gives the best performance of his career in this provocative and unusual film from writer-directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, who are best remembered for writing Bad Santa. This movie isn t likely to win over too many of Carrey s mainstream-comedy fans, or fundamentalists who don t heed the R rating, but I think it s a first-rate piece of work."

Nymag.com - "Even camped-up, the first two-thirds of the film is exhilarating"