The Progressive Puppy

Reviews Trickle In For "I Love You Phillip Morris"

The movie is written and directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, the creative team that brought "Bad Santa" to the big screen.  So that tells you what level of humor to expect.

"I Love You Phillip Morris" stars Jim Carrey in a somewhat true story about a Christian family values guy who decides to come out of the closet afer a near-fatal auto accident.  In order to accomodate his lavish new lifestyle, the ex-cop becomes a scam artist.  He's arrested and sent to prison, where he falls madly in love with his cellmate, played by Ewan McGregor.  After Carrey's sweetheart is released from the pen, our hero embarks on a series of harebrained (and often successful) escape attempts in his quest to reunite with McGregor.  Below are snippets from some early reviews I found...

Eric Kohn, Moving Picture Magazine:  Fascinatingly muddled, I Love You Phillip Morris falls into the trappings of a crude parody. The "Bad Santa" scribes make their directorial debut with the same mixture of lewd charm and underlying character complexity of that subversive holiday hit, but their intentions lie all across the map...  Throughout the movie, Steven continually slips away from prison to reunite with his partner, pulling a number of amusing tricks that suggest Chaplin by way of James Bond. But Carrey's performance runs from wild slapstick to puppy-eyed sentimentalism, often making it tough to discern the tone of any given scene. However, because of this perpetual inconsistency, Philip Morris remains a unique oddity: fascinating to watch and hard to forget, but not so great in retrospect.

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon:  You could well ask what big stars like Carrey and McGregor are doing at the alleged hotbed of independent film in the first place, and perhaps the peculiar but powerful sexual chemistry between them in I Love You Phillip Morris is one answer to the question. Sure, there have been plenty of straight-playing-gay movies by now, but I can't think of another one that strives to be so trashy and hot.

Seth on The Defamer:  (The) genre-bending script manages the seemingly impossible, ably juggling madcap Coensian crime farce, raunch comedy (with Leslie Mann playing Russell's dumbfounded ex-wife for good measure), and a matter-of-fact gay love story as poignant and frank as anything we found in Milk.  No, the camera does not cut away from their passionate kisses or acts of fellative love...

Josh Tyler, Cinema Blend:  Carrey works surprisingly well as Steven, though perhaps it’s only because Steven’s entire life is one big performance. Jim’s playing a guy playing a guy, and when he can’t help but fall into one of those wacky, unrealistic facial expressions it works as a reminder that everything we see of Steven is merely some sort of artificially created character. His relationship with Ewan works as well, though much of their life together seems to exist primarily to get guy on guy laughs.

At this point in time, the movie hasn't found a US distributor.  With a big star like Jim Carrey in the title role, that also tells you something.  And in case you haven't seen the trailer yet ...

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Harmless fun?  Or another ghastly experience like "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry?"

Gay News From Utah: The Haters, The Others

From the website of an organization called America Forever:  "No one wants to be seen as inhumane. Neither do we.  But we need to protect the children and religion as a whole... Homosexuality is not a race and cannot claim civil rights.  It is an attempt to expose children at a young age and influence their impressionable minds, since they will be the voters of tomorrow.  It causes violence to children’s mind, body, and spirit." 

Like Senator Chris Buttars, the Christian folks at America Forever don't mind being inhumane, they just don't want to be seen that way.  (Buttars called gays "the greatest threat to America going down I know of," and then whined that he'd been deceived into saying those words on-camera.)  Paul Rolly reports for Salt Lake Tribune:  America Forever is a self-appointed anti-gay group that has sent thousands of unwanted faxes to businesses and individuals blasting the gay and lesbian community, taken out full-page ads to promote its agenda and has tried to convey an affiliation with the LDS Church, which the church rejects.  (Mormon leaders are famous for disassociating themselves from organizations that peddle anti-gay hate - and then secretly funneling donations to their cause.)  Now the group has done it again.  In response to the Sundance documentary about the church's involvement in Prop. 8, California's anti-gay marriage initiative, America Forever sent out an unsolicited hate-spewing fax to an elementary school.  (Nothing says Christian love like homo hate in the second grade.)  The fax, sent to Uintah Elementary School, contains the screaming banner headline "Another Hateful Attack on the LDS Church, Senator Chris Buttars, Gayle Ruzicka and Many More who have stood up to the homosexual movement."  Large-print headline underneath the banner said, "Shame on Sundance" and "Shame on Reed Cowan," the documentary's producer who caused a stir last year when he released demeaning statements that Buttars, R-West Jordan, made about gays and lesbians in an interview for the documentary.  Buttars later said he was tricked into making those statements.  ("I was tricked into being a bigot!")  The fax, in being sent to a public school, was received by a taxpayer-funded entity who had to pay for the privilege.  (So now taxpayers are helping fund America Forever's hate?)

A new statewide poll shows that 67 percent of Utah voters favor anti-discrimination laws to protect gays and lesbians, which is eleven percent higher than a year ago.  However, this same poll revealed that 65 percent oppose amending the Utah Constitution to permit even civil unions for same-sex couples.  It also showed that a whopping fifty percent oppose changing state law to allow gays to adopt.  (Apparently, Utah residents only support a little Equality.)

From the New York Times:  Utah lawmakers will not consider a law that would ban discrimination against gay men and lesbians in the workplace and in housing, and will instead spend the next year studying the issue, key lawmakers said Friday.  In exchange, opponents of gay-rights legislation will drop any effort to prevent local governments from passing their own nondiscrimination laws this legislative session.  (That's a promise you can expect to see broken.)

There's more, after the jump ...

Sunday Morning Squirrels

They stick close to house when the weather is cold, always ready for a handout.

Pentagon: DADT Repeal Will Take Several... Years!

Anne Flaherty writes on Huffington Post:  The Defense Department starts the clock next week on what is expected to be a several-year process in lifting its ban on gays from serving openly in the military.  A special investigation into how the ban can be repealed without hurting the morale or readiness of the troops was expected to be announced Tuesday...  While the review is likely to take the better part of this year to complete, and even more time to implement, its initiation will advance President Barack Obama's goal of repealing the ban and bring a divisive issue for the military back to the fore.  (Pass the peas.)  Lifting the ban poses some emotional questions that go to the heart of the military's command structure and the trust relationships within military units. Among them: Will U.S. troops and leaders tolerate openly gay members in their midst? And if they don't, what should the Pentagon do about it?  (Tell them to do their duty and STFU.)  While his promise is being hailed as a good start by gay rights' activists, Obama is finding resistance in several corners. Some high-ranking military officers are reluctant to embrace the change while the forces are stretched thin at a time of two wars.  Democrats in Congress are also unlikely to press the issue until after this fall's midterm elections.  (The Pentagon is stalling, hoping they can stretch this thing out until a Republican is sitting in the Oval Office.  Then the entire matter can be forgotten.)

Joe Sudbay on AmericaBlog:  The day after Obama's speech, Eugene Robinson stated on MSNBC that a White House official told him the repeal probably would not happen this year.  (Obama said "this year." This. Year.  In Washington-speak, that apparently means "not this year.")  Via a report from Associated Press, we learned today that the Pentagon thinks the repeal will be a "several-year process."  Even worse, the Pentagon is going to do another study, a "special investigation," on this issue.  (That's another few million down the drain.)  Obama promised to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell.  He's the Commander-in-Chief.  He tells the Pentagon to do it faster and stop delaying the process.  (Or not.)

You could bury an Army tank under all the studies the Pentagon has requisitioned on DADT.  Military leaders believe they're being crafty, but these delaying tactics haven't fooled anyone except the most credulous lawmakers.  Like drowsy toddlers who keep inventing excuses not to go to bed, military brass are struggling against reason, postponing what they know they have to do, resisting the inevitable until the last possible moment.  They'll put off doing what's right for as long as they think they can get away with it, or until a strong parent - that would be the President - tells them to stop all the nonsense.  Alas, when it comes to his precious Joint Chiefs, Obama is an indulgent daddy.

Missouri Gay Trooper Dies, Partner Denied Recognition, Benefits

On a snowy Christmas morning, highway patrolman Dennis Engelhard stepped out of his cruiser to place flares around the scene of an accident.  He did this to ensure the safety of other motorists.  As he was performing his duties, he was struck by an oncoming vehicle and killed. 

Engelhard, 49 when he died, left behind a partner of fifteen years, Kelly Glossip; and Glossip's son, who thought of Dennis as his stepdad.  As if the tragedy wasn't awful enough, the family resides a state where discrimination is enshrined into its constitution with a same-sex marriage ban - and so, Engelhard's longtime companion has been left out in the cold.

After the death of the 10-year veteran, the Missouri State Highway Patrol described him as "single with no children."  When Governor Jay Nixon read a statement asking Missourians to pray for Engelhard's family, he alluded only to Engelhard's parents and siblings.  No mention was made of Glossip or his son in the newspaper obituaries, or in other official information released by MSHP - this, despite the fact that Englehard's co-workers knew about his sexual orientation and many of them had met his partner.  At Engelhard's funeral last month, neither Glossip or his son were acknowledged.  It's as if the people whom Dennis loved most simply disappeared from Missourians' compassion radar.

"The partner, plain and simple, is out of luck.  I'm outraged that that's the situation, but it's the status of the law." - Rep. Mike Colona, St. Louis

Jake Wagman writes on Post-Dispatch:  If Engelhard had been married, his spouse would be entitled to lifetime survivor's benefits from the state pension system - more than $28,000 a year.  But neither the state Highway Patrol pension system nor Missouri law recognizes domestic partners.  A fraternal organization that provides benefits to the families of troopers killed in the line of duty is also unsure if it will help Engelhard's partner.  Gay marriage activists say the death of Engelhard - hailed by the governor for making the "ultimate sacrifice in fulfilling his duty" - provides a poignant example of the need for greater rights for same-sex couples.  Others say that domestic partners should not receive any more recognition than unmarried partners of heterosexual troopers, who would not be eligible for survivor pension benefits either.  (But of course heterosexual couples can legally wed. Gays and  lesbians have no such option.)  ...Glossip said his relationship with Engelhard was no secret at the Highway Patrol. Glossip was listed as Engelhard's emergency contact. They showed up together at a Fourth of July party attended by several other troopers. A room full of troopers mourned with Glossip at the hospital where Engelhard was pronounced dead.  "I'd take 100 Dennis Engelhards. He was an outstanding trooper," said Capt. Ronald Johnson, head of the Highway Patrol troop that covers St. Louis and surrounding counties.

Post-Dispatch readers left many hard-hearted comments about this story ...

"The trooper's boyfriend should not get the money. They were not married. the child was not his. If you start bending rules, then why have any. Let the man be a man and support his own child and himself."
"Homosexuality is a choice and should not be rewarded. God's law doesn't provide that union with reproductive rights. I wish I never knew of this relationship as it tarnishes my previous thoughts of this tragedy."
"Freakin' fairy Highway patrolmen? Makes me wanna take to the highways and do a 150mph bonzai run to the lake or something. Can fairies fly faster than a full tilt boogie, well-tuned sports car?  Fairy highway patrolmen... the world is ACTUALLY COMING TO AN END!"
"Every American has the right to marry someone of the opposite sex and take in the benefits of marriage. Gay people choose not to exercise those rights and should not be given special privileges."
"Homosexuality is an aberration against society.  It's against God's law and if you're a prayer warrior you'd know that."
"If the gay community handled themselves in a more business-like fashion, marriage probably would have been approved in many states; however, as long as the angry activist element runs it, I will vote NO!!!"
"I am against gay marriage for religious reasons and do not believe it is an issue of equality legally speaking either."
"I think people are getting tired of being politically correct and are becoming braver in revealing their true selves."
"I'm single, and I want his pension too. Why am I treated like a second class citizen as well?"
"If you dont like the rules in Missouri, move to another state."

That first comment is deceptive at best.  Kelly Glossip is employed by a medical billing firm.

Missouri is known as the "Show Me" state.  Does that include showing a little compassion?  (Pictured standing: Englehard)

"Anyone can criticize. It takes a true believer to be compassionate. No greater burden can be borne by an individual than to know no one cares or understands."  -  Arthur H. Stainback

Hawaii House Nixes Same-Sex Civil Unions

The state of Hawaii has just reached out and snatched the leis off its LGBT citizens.  And to hide the identities of equality opponents, cowardly lawmakers refused to do a roll call ...

From the Washington Post:  Hawaii lawmakers declined to vote Friday on a bill that would have allowed same-sex civil unions, effectively killing the measure.  The state House of Representatives decided to indefinitely postpone a decision on whether to grant gay and lesbian couples the same rights and benefits the state provides to married couples.  The state Senate had approved a civil unions bill last week. But House leadership wavered on pushing the controversial issue. Last year, 33 of 51 House members voted in favor of civil unions.  Civil union supporters in the crowded House gallery on Friday shouted, "Shame on you!" while opponents cheered.  (Denying people the right to visit loved ones in the hospital is now a reason to cheer?)  "It's an election year, and they're more concerned about keeping their seats than doing what's right," said Stephen Nagle of Kaaawa, wearing a rainbow lei in support of civil unions...  No roll call was taken on the decision to postpone the vote, which shielded representatives from having their position on the record.  Instead, lawmakers shouted "aye" or "no," and Vice Speaker of the House Michael Magaoay then ruled that the motion to delay a vote had passed.  From  KITV:  Hundreds of people turned out for the vote. Opponents wearing white shirts were the overwhelming number of people waiting to get in to the House Chambers gallery.  Leaders in the state House met in private on Friday morning to determine if they had enough votes to prevent a veto from Gov. Linda Lingle.  Sources said it appears the House has lost a number of supporters for the bill.  From Honolulu Star Bulletin: The move was met by catcalls from some in the crowd who packed the House gallery, with some screaming for a roll call vote...  The move to postpone indefinitely was made by House Speaker Calvin Say.  Say had said he wanted to address the issue in the opening days of session and get it off members' plates...

As Stephen Colbert famously said, "We're here, we're queer, they'll get to us eventually."