5/10
What a disappointment.
I was hoping for a film that was a) funny b) brave and c) original, but what we have here is a confused and confusing based-on-a-true-story movie that rushes all over the place and ends up back where it started - nowhere.First things first. This is, we are told, a true story. That's fair enough (because you couldn't have made it up), but so what? In theory this allows the audience to swallow what they might otherwise spit out. But in practice the credibility of a film depends on the film makers, not whether or not the events actually took place. So, while I'm prepared to believe that Steven Russell, devoted father, husband, Christian, con artist and closet gay left his wife and children, was arrested and banged up in prison, where he met the love of his life (see title) inside. that is not intrinsically interesting unless we actually care about the people concerned. I didn't. I have followed Jim Carrey's career moves with a mostly favourable eye, but this is one part that he doesn't nail. I don't think it's his fault, though. The film is trying to do and be a lot of different things at the same time - namely, a comedy, a gay romance, a drama, a prison movie and a True Story - and Carrey is expected to manage to simultaneously entertain us, amuse us, move us and make us believe he's a real person. Too much to ask of one guy. Ewan McGregor? Well, he doesn't really have a part. He has to look sweet and naive and wait at home while Steven/Jim is lying and cheating for a living. It's like a caricature of a nothing woman's role.
For an example of how this sort of thing should be done we need look no further than Catch Me If You Can, Spielberg's film about a very similar character, played by Leonardo diCaprio. Of course, one big difference with this film is that the two main characters are both men, and lovers. Indeed, the film goes further than almost any mainstream Hollywood film in being explicit about gay sex, which is admirable. However, the audience is constantly being asked to switch between different responses - laugh now, cry now, gape in disbelief now - when in fact, I was just sitting there thinking, 'This is not working.' Other critics have been more enthusiastic, perhaps because they feel the need to root for a film with such a strong gay theme. If I could in all sincerity tell you I enjoyed it (as I expected to), then I would. But I'd be lying - like Steven Russell.
