I love you, Hal Ashby

In the DVD bonus features for "I Love You Phillip Morris", Jim Carrey said that he saw in the film's directors Jim Ficarra and John Requa his own Hal Ashby.  While probably a throwaway comment, I think it says a lot about Jim Carrey and the current state of movies (and not that much about Jim Ficarra and John Requa).

Hal Ashby was part of the 70s Hollywood that doesn't exist anymore -- big studios making movies about oddballs and bad decisions, starring plain or strange looking people.  Or, at least, that is what Hal Ashby has come to mean as a director.  I don't know if his "Harold and Maude" (1971) is seen by anyone anymore, but it was a cult classic for decades.  Imagine a time when Paramount was green-lighting romantic comedies starring Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon.  (Last week-end, its release was Thor.)

Hal Ashby also made "Being There", which is also a movie about plain looking people (an aging Peter Sellers and Shirley MacLaine), and it is either ambigous or a two-hour set up for the final scene's epiphany.  It does not contain any teen-agers and no one averts a train disaster.  Even his more mainstream movies, "Shampoo" and "Coming Home", offer A-listers wearing afros (Warren Beatty) or facing down the effects of Vietnam (Jane Fonda).

"I Love You Phillip Morris" is not "Being There" or "Harold and Maude".  It is not even particularly good. Strangely, Jim Carrey is the reason it is uneven and un-Ashby.  Ashby's films give a space for "oddballs" by playing the idiosyncrasies of the characters in a way that is natural and gentle.  There is no mugging for the camera or winking at the audience.  Jim Carry cannot hold himself back: we are always watching a Jim Carrey movie.  I think that some of the humour of the film is predicated on his bravery for taking such a "gay" role. Although you have to admire his apparent enthusiasm for the role, Carrey's performance is so pushy that everyone else is washed away. Not surprising, but too bad: especially given that Ewen MacGregor gives a subtle performance that would have done Hal Ashby proud.  Again in the bonus interviews, MacGregor said that he found Jim Carrey to be a giving actor.  There is no evidence of that in the movie.       

The choice for Jim Carrey to take such a "gay" role is brave, and the fact that a major movie with two bankable stars was (barely) released so very very late and without any marketing does speak to that bravery.  Still, are we to believe that a mainstream comedy with gay characters is the 2010's equivalent to "Harold and Maude"?  Or, are we more squeamish now with non-traditional couples than when Richard Nixon was President?

A cynic might wonder if Jim Carrey, the profitable blockbusters drying up, is now looking to fashion himself into a more respectable star through some gold-plated "quirky" films.  If so, "I Love You Phillip Morris" is not the vehicle.