I Love You Philip Morris

Consider this a light-charcoal comedy chosen well by Jim Carrey. Only he could take such an outrageous real character and infuse his trademark zany mannerisms to make such an outlandishly buffoon-genius palatable.

Aesthetically, there is not much to critique. This is a standard plot-driven tale. The narration and interstitial spaces provided much needed coherency to the antics of the protagonist. 

Most importantly, we see a schizophrenia between the well-adjusted man who is a pathological prevaricator, and the possible though unanswered source of his instability: the fact he was adopted and rejected by his biological mother. Naturally, however, though the film suggests otherwise, this rejection causality did not instigate his pathology; he was far more twisted far earlier in his life.

And yet we do not see a violent character per se. His crime which he cannot overcome is in his inability to find a formula for living an authentic life. A car accident leads to his "awakening" whereby he selfishly leaves his wife and family to embrace his "true" self as a selfish gay man. Perhaps we see a psychosocial escape, an identity crisis as it were, when he faces the death of his ego and decides to let it be itself. However, this line of reasoning, which he clearly never abandons, leads to his annihilation as a member of society.

There is a rationalization for guilt-free reckless thieving: I deserve it. Thus the struggle to acquire the means for such lavish ends escapes his self-lust, his ironic escape from reality as he resigns himself to authenticity. 

He had an opportunity to correct himself, albeit still through a corrupt arrow of time; on second thought, his falsity as a chief financial officer proves the inevitability of his mishandling of his time. Eventually, his inner pathology, of not living a life of virtue defined outside of his ego boundaries, perpetuated his demise from his near-death epiphany. The fact that he found nothing but his own desires as meaningful and true in his life versus the contemplation of a meaningful life that is completed by an outside significance - even Philip Morris could not stop the excessive chicanery - is indicative of a nihilistic age.

Grade: A-