Nicolas Cage—STOP making movies!

Once again Cage is the odd man out
By Morgan P Salvo

Wild at Heart, Raising Arizona, Birdy… these are the films that come to mind when I think back when Nicolas Cage was good. Maybe it all started with Captains Corelli’s Mandolin when I realized maybe Cage wasn’t cut out for “mood pieces”. Now all he does is somber monotone renditions in flicks that give me a bad mood. I first noticed it in movies I thought I would like: Snake Eyes, 8mm and Gone in Sixty Seconds (it became clear that I should have left the theater in 30 seconds).
Sure he’s had some money problems but when you are one of the biggest box office stars why keep making crap after crap after crap? Going completely off the edge of “paycheck movies” there seems to always be a Nicolas Cage movie happening somewhere. There’s always one in theaters, on cable, coming soon on DVD, being shot right now or in post-production. Leaving Las Vegas gave him a well deserved academy award but after that the only movies that come to mind nearing redemption are Spike Jonze /Charlie Kaufman’s Adaptation and (just barely) Matchstick Men. There’s always an actor who works too hard, like say Michael Caine or Samuel L Jackson. They’re bound to show up in a bad movie once in a while. With Cage they are all bad. But in Caine or Jackson’s case you can see the glint in their eyes of “yes I am doing schlock.” With Cage the eyes have gone dead.
Which brings me to Drive Angry --- Angry is actually pretty good. Everyone (Burke, Fichtner and Heard) are having a field day hamming it up and being super cartoony... yep, everyone but Cage. His take on the somber monotone serious dude does not play out AT ALL with the rest of the movie. If the filmmakers had chosen anyone else (with the exception of Justin Timberlake) this would have been a four star movie. Over the top action, titillating gore, violence, sex, nudity and one scene that incorporates intercourse and gunplay at the same time…very original and very funny.
Director Patrick Lussier ( My Bloody Valentine) has taken all the things I have been bitching about that was wrong with 3D and made them inventive imaginative and visually stunning. Everything flies at you: bullets, axes, car parts, body parts, flames, blood. You name it, it whizzes right at you. There’s one scene in particular that is true genius; the windshield in the foreground with a bullet hole and a moon refection superimposed with a flashback/surreal dream sequence in the middle and Cage’s glaring face in the background exhibits pure inventive 3D art form brilliance. And like in Bloody Valentine when you’re in the diner, you feel like you are in the freaking diner. Angry is a painstakingly hilarious cheesy homage to 70’s movies with muscle cars and a satanic cult. The throwaway plot is beyond stupid but that’s what makes it so much fun, and it would be an all-out blast if buzz-kill Cage wasn’t in it sauntering around striking poses and acting like he doesn’t know where he is.
I have gone on record that every movie I see Cage in is just more proof that it’s virtually impossible for him to act anymore. My theory as to why/how Cage turned bad is that he goes into certain contraptions before going in front of a camera. One is a “personality extractor” that leaves him befuddled and forlorn. Another device is a “charisma vacuum” that sucks the life out of any feeling he might emote. Last is a “laser-beam acting-talent-eradicator”. One theory I like is that he is like Samson; once his hairline receded he lost his power. Now relying on insanely weird hair hats he pushes onward.
In the last couple of years we’ve been treated or devastated by Cages’ long list of films not to mention the hideous acting. Long ago his wacky hangdog spiel and weird take on things worked (Peggy Sue got Married or Vampire’s Kiss) and his moderately good stabs as action hero— Face Off, Con Air and The Rock seemed like obvious phases. But he never grew out of them. Now Cage churns out B-movie disasters like Bangkok Dangerous, Season of the Witch, Two National Treasure movies, Knowing, The Wicker Man, Ghost Rider and Next (possibly the worst movie ever made with his performance ranking as the worst of all time)
When all is said and done Cage had the ability and still has the face to do interesting work but his extreme lack of talent doesn’t just materialize in his choices of films but also manifests itself in his choice of acting styles.I think the main problem is we all still want to like Nicolas Cage—he just won’t let us.
But by all means see Drive Angry, Cage cannot single handedly destroy a movie this good but he tries.

Drive Angry
Starring Nicolas Cage, William Fichtner Amber Heard Billy Burke
Directed by Patrick Lussier
Rated R

3 ½ stars

Let the Eagle Soar

Somber tone sets the pace for the newest Roman saga
 by Morgan P Salvo

Well we’ve had Russell Crowe, Brad Pitt and Colin Farrell don the Ancient Roman attire as they march sandal first with sword in hand but now we add…Channing Tatum? Turns out it’s not such a bad call since there is little dialogue to screw up as he spends most of his time brooding and being really pensive. This must be survival month at the movies because beyond honor and freedom at the core of this movie is, you guessed it, survival. This is another installment of will they or won’t they?

Setting an ominous tone from the beginning we soon become aware that we are not in Hollywood mainstream gladiator territory. The Eagle, directed by Academy Award-winning Kevin MacDonald (The Last King of Scotland) re-teams with screenwriter Jeremy Brock for this historical epic set in second century Britain. In 135 A.D Roman-ruled Britain, a young Roman soldier Marcus Aquila (Channing Tatum) endeavors to honor his father's memory by finding his lost legion's golden emblem, the treasured Eagle. It’s been 15 years since the Ninth Legion went missing in the mountains of Scotland. Marcus’ father was the commander of the Ninth and by discovering what fate befell the missing 5,000 men he could restore his failing reputation. Aquila's only traveling companion is his British slave, Esca (Jamie Bell). Along the way they confront the savage tribes of the land.
Overly protective of his men (“Better angry than dead”) Marcus is careful not to make the mistakes his father made. Not knowing if Dad’s actions were of cowardice or bravery Marcus is anguished and at battle within to prove himself. There is an aura of despondency in all his actions.
Tatum wears the raging inner turmoil on his sleeve. I can’t tell if Bell looks angry to be a slave or to play one. Donald Sutherland is the kindly uncle looking like Grizzly Adams in a man-robe. Mark Strong pops up yet not as a villain. And Tahar Rahim (A Prophet) sporting a Mohawk and what looks like a muskrat skull on his head, is unrecognizable as the leader of an ashen grey covered tribe that resembles an evil Navi race. Oddly everyone speaks their own voice so we have no fake British accents flailing about.

MacDonald is not interested in gore. The brutal fight scenes are all swords swooshing, action cuts, hacking and bashing but not a trickle of blood. There’s enough sound and choreography to steer away from the missing bloodshed. The editing allows the more gruesome kills executed off camera showing the facial expressions of the killer and/or onlookers. Judging by the 15 minutes of credits it seems somebody could’ve splurged for some squibs. The stand off between the muskrat-skull wearing tribe and the Romans of the missing 5,000 (looking like a washed up rock band revival) is bittersweet in its finale… the combat scenes just seem to end with an artsy blackout and then reveal the carnage.

The realistic and somber approach to this flick makes it watchable. But the time code here is off: setting up scenes that feel unnecessary and then cutting to an end result without an explanation of how and why people got there. Shot in Hungary and Scotland with impressive scenery and really cool music I wonder why the filmmakers choose this simplistic story to bring out such impressive cinematic guns. The Eagle is an epic battle movie with a message of honor and trust too bad it ends with a highly unnecessary upbeat last scene.
I kept expecting a more Fellini or Pier Paolo Pasolini surrealistic approach to pop up yet Eagle feels more like early Werner Herzog or Terrence Malick keeping the tone gritty with a desperation and futility expressed throughout.
The Eagle
Starring Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, Donald Sutherland, Mark Strong, Tahar Rahim
Directed By Kevin McDonald
PG-13
2 ¾ stars

Throw This Gaping Hole a Lifeline

Drowning in Stupidity Sanctum Creates its own Watery Grave
By Morgan P Salvo


Two things are really not working for me anymore: “Based on true facts” and “Shot in real 3-D”. Just the mere fact that James Cameron produced Sanctum, the 3-D cinema magic should deliver. It doesn’t. I know I’m not known for being lavish with my praise, but this truly is one of the worst movies I have ever seen.
The water-soaked plot involves an underwater cave diving team on an expedition to explore New Guinea's Esa-ala Caves, one of the least accessible cave systems in the world. When a cyclone causes a flash flood to cut off their exit, they are caught in a life-or-death situation. With supplies dwindling, the divers must navigate a treacherous labyrinth to find a new escape route or die in the process.
Sounds promising right? What could have been a nice harrowing survival tale instead give us yet another father son reconciliation account through cathartic events, done poorly. Setting us up with transparencies like…Will the pouty-boy-man and gruff-strict-dad reconcile their differences? Will their survival tactics intertwine? Will they find out something they never knew about each other and themselves? Will it dig as deep as the cave they so expertly plunder through? Will the duo bond like no other has before them? Will there be painful decisions made? Will domestic squabbles take on the mentality of the father-son-oedipal complex pleasing each other till it hurts? Gimme a break.
From the first line of dialogue Sanctum feels forced and phony. The screenplay seems like it was taken from a joke book of clichés. The acting is atrocious throughout. This Aussie wannabe action yarn comes off like a lame version of The Descent without the cool monsters.
Carl Ioan Gruffudd (Reed Richards in The Fantastic Four) annoys us instantly with his take on his role, exposing a fake personality that only lame actors can convey. Richard Roxburgh(Moulin Rouge) as Frank has the juiciest role but well marinated in sea water no original lines. Dan Wyllie’s George has a moment or two, climber Victoria (Alice Parkinson) is all wisecrack and worry (never a good combo) and Rhys Wakefield’s estranged 17-year old son, Josh, is all cry baby with unbelievable mood swings that are conveyed with a lot of “NO… NO… NO’s!”
The enthusiastic talks that emanate from all the characters takes on a children’s Discovery Channel approach .Wretched dialogue to invent drama is inserted to establish a “story” that went on behind cave doors, relying heavily on all the conventions of unoriginal, over-used catch phrases stolen from countless other bad movies. If divers and underwater explorers turned first time writers Andrew Wigh, John Garvint are going to call it “based on true facts” then they owe it to us to make up something good and not this terribly generic.
The claustrophobic Sanctum’s 3-D tries it’s hardest to enthrall, as camera and character squiggle through tiny tunnels. There was no need for 3-D effect –we’re right there with them without having to see pockmarked rocks in the foreground. We’re constantly barraged with sweeping emotional stirring music to invoke the bosom to swell. The music and redundant dialogue never fills the cave’s empty space only the water pouring is plugs the gaps.
Director Alister Grierson was obviously under Producer Cameron’s thumb trying to invoke an Abbyss feel but comes off more like Cameron’s Piranha Part Two: The Spawning without the demon fish or any imaginative ideas.
Everything is so beyond predictable that this movie could make one feel down right clairvoyant. When Frank teaches Josh Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Kubla Khan poem it just about threw me out of the theatre. My feet were poised to bolt. Believe me if this one doesn’t make number one on my worst top ten list next year it will be a miracle.
Just recently a more effective survival movie came out (127 hrs) and one guy and rock were more intense and entertaining than this entire expedition and a cave. Sanctum’s litany of bad calls is endless. Let’s just call it a fiasco and be done with it —I’d rather watch my crunchy cereal flakes get soggy than this watered down disaster. I came out of the theater gasping for fresh air after being submerged in this atrocity for 1hr and 43 minutes. Oh… what a few cool monsters at the bottom could’ve done for this flick. Sanctum is all wet

SANCTUM
Starring Richard Roxburgh, Rhys Wakefield, Ioan Gruffudd, Alice Parkinson, Dan Wyllie
Directed by Alister Grierson
¼ star


(Only because I like underwater footage)

The Devil Made Him Do It

Anthony Hopkins Hams it up amidst looming dormancy while Rites of passage be damned... this flick goes nowhere.


It’s not a good sign when an exorcist movie is rated PG-13…you know the lack of blood and cursing will not suffice for any horror aficionado especially in this overworked genre.
And such is the case with The Rite, a demonic Anthony Hopkins vehicle where once again he gets to strut his stuff by glinting his eyes, rattling off cantankerous innuendoes and sinister wise-cracks all the while under heavy demon make-up and CGI veins popping out of his skin. Think Hannibal Lecter even more possessed.
"Based on true events” from a book by Matt Baglio which documents the initiation of Reverend Gary Thomas of Los Altos, Calif. as an exorcist, this flick treads on thin demonic ice all the way. The Rite is ridiculous from start to finish. The tired old conventions that set this kind of movie up rear their ugly heads immediately with a back story of a father (Rutger Hauer)-son (Colin O’Donoghue) funeral home team that tries to be creepy but is only dull. Bad horror movie set up lines abound, like, “We live with dead people in our house, how much worse can it get?” Son Michael goes off to become a priest but has tons of misgivings and is finally sent to Rome to take an exorcism 101 class because a priest (Toby Jones) sees something in the young lad and utters the stereotypical line, “two months in Rome – how bad can that be?” Classmate Alice Braga sees something in the wannabe troubled priest and flirts with him a lot. Then the teacher Father Xavier (Ciarán Hinds) sees something meaningful and sends him off to play hooky with Father Lucas (Hopkins), a bonafide practicing exorcist and then Lucas sees something like himself in the doubting atheist. Everyone sees it but Michael himself…what a shock. So we get the requisite skepticism followed by tons of proof that the devil exists and lives inside of people. The rest of the movie is in exorcist contortion land while mentor and mentee conduct a slew of the devil-casting-out rituals.
Lucas reminds us early that there is no spewing green pea soup and there are no spinning heads. Yet we are treated to a young pregnant woman’s possession with the gratuitous neck cracking, convulsing, drooling and body twisting acrobatics we have been so exposed to in these kinds of flicks. Michael still is struggling with logic versus faith but there’s nothing like coughing up bloody nails (just a hunch but I’m guessing from Jesus’ cross) to convert an atheist non believer, but oh wait that still doesn’t do it. Until Lucas himself becomes possessed does Mike have a day of reckoning, transforming into an almighty God-accepting-avenger-priest. This movie comes full circle and forms a perfect cheese-ball.
O'Donoghue’s weird acting makes Michael’s ambivalence towards religion and then science never believable. Braga just smirks and then looks bewildered when scared. The only fun is watching Hopkins do what we all know he is capable of: hamming it up. Best scene is when he smacks a kid. Mikael Hafstrom (1408, Derailed) has a way of establishing nice images but the vague emoting, plugged in dialogue, flashbacks, jolt scare tactics and dream sequences still made it feel like a slow-paced one act play about nothing. Rite is a boringly pedestrian movie with little shocks echoing such flicks as the bad Omen sequels or the recent Unborn. It’s a shame…all that devil and nowhere original to go. Hollywood is churning out so much junk in this department that it’s safe to say anything with “the” in its title is sure to suck. I really wanted to be nice to this movie but it clearly had no intention of letting me. What gives them the rite?


The Rite
Starring Anthony Hopkins, Colin O'Donoghue, Alice Braga, Ciarán Hinds
Directed by: Mikael Hafstrom
Rated PG-13
 1 ½ stars

And Then There Were Three

 Stunning photography enhances straightforward story
by Morgan P Salvo

The Way Back is a grueling, stunningly photographed story of a group of prisoners who escape a Siberian gulag and walk…yes that’s right, walk, 4000 miles through five hostile countries to freedom in India. This sometimes riveting film is grand scale entertainment though disconcerting by the tediousness of the trek. Six-time Oscar nominated Director Peter Weir (Truman Show, Dead Poets Society) returns to the screen after a seven year absence with an epic yet by-the-numbers film adaptation of Slavomir Rawicz's novel, The Long Walk: the True Story of a Trek to Freedom. The veracity of Rawicz’s story has been challenged, so Weir and co-writer Keith Clarke try to address the authenticity by giving us the straight story.
Beginning in 1940 with a decent interrogation scene we are thrust into serious prison life. Way Back’s not the ilk of The Great Escape, Stalag 17 or Midnight Express, all of which focused on the inmate’s tribulations. The time spent in the prison is short lived and escape comes quick. This has an indie budget Lawrence of Arabia feel, wherein the journey takes them from snow to burning desert to snow again. I wished more time was spent setting up the characters in the prison, but this movie is not about the prison, it’s about the debilitating trek. Each character has an on-the-journey monologue for back-story. Throughout the scenic drudgery these men’s will to live forces them onward, battling sandstorms, mirages, snakes and mosquitoes. They are in perpetual motion, with very little dialogue, drama or conflict between them. Some parts were hard to swallow, like these guys can go all caveman eating raw meat off the bone but become gentleman when a young waif (Saoirse Ronan from Lovely Bones) appears. Even the mad killer (Colin Farrell) with no morals whatsoever plays nice.

Jim Sturgess’ protagonist Janusz is wily throughout. Farrell energizes the film stealing every scene he's in as the silver-toothed, tattooed, violent and cagey Valka. If you’re looking for the Ed Harris role of a lifetime forget it. Harris who always embodies his roles has little to do here except to suffer, be gruff and sensitive. The real star is cinematographer Russell Boyd, whose panoramic shots capture the cool locations, stunning vistas and ever changing environments beautifully. Every character departs either by death or just by a different path with no grandiose Hollywood mainstream flair. Filled with scenes of extraordinary survival challenges the result is oddly impersonal and indifferent. Summing up with a history lesson depicting Poland’s 1989 freedom from communism and a page from Saving Private Ryan, Way Back is slow-paced and unbelievably boring in an “artistic choice” kind of way.
The Way Back
Starring Ed Harris, Jim Sturgess, Colin Farrell, Saoirse Ronan, Marc Strong
Directed by Peter Weir
2 ½ stars

Pass the Bug Spray

Unoriginal banter destroys more than crime fighting in the abysmal Green Hornet
by Morgan P Salvo

The Green Hornet arrived after a ton of negative buzz in the notorious mid-January cinematic dead zone and raked it in as the biggest box office moneymaker of the week. Based on the 1930s radio and 60's TV show of the same name, The Green Hornet features Seth Rogen as Britt Reid, playboy heir to the publishing empire built by his father (Tom Wilkinson sleep-walking through his mean-old-dad routine). After dad croaks, party animal Reid inherits the newspaper company, teaming up with late dad's assistant and eventual sidekick Kato (Chinese pop star Jay Chou) to become a masked crime-fighting team. Their mission: to rid Los Angeles of a local crime czar (Christoph Waltz). Green Hornet is yet another tongue-in-cheek costumed crime-fighter, but neither Iron Man nor Hancock sunk as low as Rogen’s tubby icon of idiocy.

Rogen wrote the screenplay with his frequent collaborator, Evan Goldberg (Superbad and Pineapple Express), and here the same old jokes are tired and fall flat. Rogen’s spoiled brat shtick is a disaster. His character is immediately irritating and then continues to deteriorate rapidly while his unoriginal and predictable motor-mouth banter wears so thin that you can use it for saran wrap. Rogen’s never ending running commentary is too annoying to be humorous. Let’s face it, the bromance shtick has run its course.

Bruce Lee’s shoes are hard to fill, but Chou has an interesting take on things. Chou is the only one who brings life to his character, but pitted against Rogen’s non-stop yak fest, he doesn’t stand a chance. By far the best scene is in the first few minutes when we see a short-lived uncredited cameo by James Franco and super-lame villain Chudnofksy (Waltz), who verbally duke it out in a crime boss stand off. The lack of a script for the rest of Waltz’s (Inglorious Basterds) unfunny performance as a villain suffering through a mid-life crisis is astonishing. Waltz tries his damnedest, but the wretched material drags him down with it. And what’s the deal with Academy Award winners and their super hero fixations? Halle Berry did Catwoman, Charlize Theron did Aeon Flux, even Phillip Seymour Hoffman did Mission Impossible 3. Now Waltz can join the ranks of statue winners who go on to suck. Cameron Diaz starts out with her ditzy grinning spiel and ends up in shorty-shorts as goofy secretary filler. Edward James Olmos as newspaper editor Axford safely just got old (some may remember him as the half-Asian origami-making agent in Blade Runner).

The flick has sharp colors and a comic book feel, but the awful script does nothing for the typically innovative director, Michel Gondry magical filmmaking style(Science of Sleep, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). Still, he seems to have a blast keeping a Kick-Ass sensibility without blood and minimal cursing. There are also some cool surreal Kato fighting sequences. The animated ending credits and the tricked-out Chrysler Imperial are the best parts. The 3D explosions, shattering glass and hurling metal don’t even reach the theater seats. Shot with 2D cameras and transferred, it has the look of a View-Master, adding support to my belief that 3D is just a way to charge 13 bucks for movies that don’t deliver.

From the bad dialogue and black masks to the green smoke and last spray of bullets, this is one tedious, joyless ride. Some extremely irritating things were: gratuitous Johnny Cash music just to be hip, playing the “I can’t swim” sensitivity card and the use of the line “these guys are good” when getting pursued and shot at. Then there’s the ridiculous fight scene between Kato and Britt where the 3D effects glaringly expose the obvious Rogen stunt double.

Green Hornet wastes no time in being stupid and fails to sustain any satisfying momentum. The film slogs on with elaborate gadgetry and crazy bombastic action, but after a huge array of comedic misfires, devolves into a numbing onslaught of raining bullets, car chases, fire and explosions. When it nears the end, instead of any kind of redeeming climax, the film becomes even more repellent and I seriously doubt that was its intention. I think the filmmakers think this movie is funny and clever – but it’s neither.
A more apt title for all affected could be: Bring me the head of Seth Rogen

The Green Hornet
Starring Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz, Cristoph Waltz, Edward James Olmos
Directed by Michel Gondry
Rated PG-13




½ star

Call for Phillip Morris

Catch and release zany escapades go in and out of prison and gay lifestyles
By Morgan P Salvo

I thought this flick was a cigarette ad at first but was I ever mistaken. It's taken almost two years for the whacked out hilarious comedy I Love You Phillip Morris to finally reach theaters. Premiering at Sundance in January 2009, the movie was a near-casualty of nervous U.S. distributors and in fact had a showing here at last year’s Bend Filmfest to glowing reviews. This flick lay dormant in cinematic limbo but rest assured this flick is now out in all its colorful gay pride and screwed up glory. A comedy that’s recklessly fearless perhaps producers shied away from two big stars like Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor big stars doing gay-for-pay in a crazy twist on romantic comedies.

First off I have to admit I can’t stand Jim Carrey. The only movie I really liked him in was Man in the Moon where he pretty much channeled Andy Kaufman .Other than that he can take his cartoonish rubbery face and jittery body movements way the hell outta my face. But wait! Lo and behold Carrey does a phenomenal job in this flick. I mean it! So did McGregor who has been pissing me off with his movies choice for about half a decade. Plus the movie itself is a well written comedy/dramedy/tragedy by directors John Requa, Glenn Ficarra (the Bad Santa team) and is like a combination of Raising Arizona meets Catch me if you can.
Starting out with “this really happened, really it did” ILYPM is based on Houston Press reporter Steve McVicker's 2003 book about the real-life adventures of multi-talented con man who frustrated and embarrassed detectives and jailers for years. Steven Russell (Carrey), an ultra hetero leading the straight and narrow life as a Virginia Beach, Georgia cop and church organist, happy with wife, Debbie (Leslie Mann) and daughter. But Steve’s hetero existence covers the fact that he’s ramming it home to a big mustached guy on the side. Steve has a rude awakening while driving home from a secret rendezvous. The epiphany comes in the form of a near fatal car crash and some hilarious profound statements like “I'm gonna be a fag!" .Then he moves to Florida

Steve is a misguided con man, embezzling money and pretending to be a lawyer or financial investor while pathologically risk addicted and financing his messed up “high on the gay hog” lifestyle. He states at one point “being gay is expensive” which lead him to a life of crime. Finagling all his bamboozling for love never realizing he’s destroying everything he’s striving for. Winding up in prison and through his impulsive, diabolical brilliance attempts many an escape, still Steve never seems to come out of his love-fog in order to become the man he thinks he is.
I detected some “pretending” going on instead of acting but the dialogue’s humor is so well written that you forgive these minor diversions. The love stuff feels comedic throughout which is fine because it matches the tone of the movie. By the ending scenes however I totally believed their shared love-pathos..
Carrey excels in every scene. For once all his manic delivery has a purpose and he digs deep into all the more touching dramatic moments. He deftly shows us a man who’s tragically incapable of being saved from him self, a homosexual who couldn’t be legally or ethically straight, either. I think the deal is Carrey’s more believable as gay. McGregor exudes a great submissive passive personality but when he’s fed up you feel for him his tainted love.
The straight roles are a crack-up to endure and have the timing of great comedy as creepy and stupid characters emerge. The music runs the gamut from Johnny Mathis to Foghat
There are so many cool twists and turns to this story that right when you think you’ve got it figured out—forget it…it is full of constant surprises. This go-for-broke nastiness story of love and crime is definitely not for the homophobe or homo-squeamish but anytime a scene verges on corny or schmaltzy a laugh-out-loud piece of dialogue appears sometimes off screen that can have you rolling in the aisles. I could go on and on quoting lines from this movie here or relating hilarious visuals (watch for a certain cloud formation or the Screecher), but really just go see it for your self to get the full effect.
I went into his movie leery of a Jim Carrey vehicle that would be like fingernails on a blackboard but I came out of this movie still snickering to myself at how freaking funny and well made this flick really is.

I Love You Philip Morris
Starring Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor, Leslie Mann, Rodrigo Santoro, Antoni Corone
Directed by John Requa Glenn Ficarra
Rated R
3 1/2 stars