I thoroughly enjoyed it!

IN cinemas today is a very unusual comedy starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor as gay lovers — that's right, gay lovers.

Now this might not be to everyone's tastes but I thoroughly enjoyed I Love You Phillip Morris — particularly Carrey, who is excellent as the gay con artist Steven Russell.

Ewan McGregor lets the side down badly as he is thoroughly miscast once again (call your agent Ewan) as a blonde haired, effete gay man — sorry but so not convincing.

Those criticisms aside, if you like your comedy with a bit of edge and a fair degree of adult humour, then like me, you will probably love I Love You Phillip Morris.

The movie is the improbable but true story, based on the novel by former Houston Chronicle investigative reporter Steve McVicker, of a spectacularly charismatic conman's journey through life.

From small town businessman to flamboyant white collar criminal, Steven Russell repeatedly finds himself in trouble with the law and always on the make and the take. He brilliantly escapes from the Texas prison system on four separate occasions — all in the name of love.

Russell leads a seemingly average life: an organ player in the local church, happily married to Debbie (Leslie Mann) and a member of the local police force.

That is until he has a severe car accident that leads him to the ultimate epiphany: he's gay.

And boy is he going to live life to the fullest — even if he has to break the law to do it.

Embarking on an extravagant lifestyle, Steven turns to crime and fraud to make ends meet and is eventually sent to prison where he meets the love of his life: a sensitive, soft-spoken man named Phillip Morris (a wholly laughable Ewan McGregor).

His devotion to freeing Phillip from jail and building the perfect life together prompts him to attempt (and often succeed at) one impossible con trick after another.

Told with humour and a lot of heart, the movie is a tale of what happens when the legal system, a carefree spirit and undying love collide with deliciously funny effect.

As I said previously this is not your average Hollywood comedy or love story but it is well worth seeing — just for Carrey's performance alone.

"Yes it's interesting that he's a gay man," producer Andrew Lazar said of Jim Carrey's role. "But what makes it universal is that everyone can relate to being obsessed and love sick and wanting to be with that person who's going to change your life."

The humour is both visual and vocal — since this is a family newspaper I will leave out most of the gay jokes but Carrey handles his gay man role with panache, style and heaps of camp comedy.

Shame about Ewan McGregor though!

(Thanks to the staff at the Vue cinema in Plymouth for arranging my screening at such short notice).