YMMV / I Love You Phillip Morris

• Aluminum Christmas Trees: Yes, there really was a Steven Jay Russell in love with Phillip Morris - and all of his convoluted and ridiculous escape methods - including faking his own death from AIDS happened in real life.
• Crosses the Line Twice: One of the film's greatest strengths.
• Magnificent Bastard: Steven Jay Russell was a closeted homosexual who lived a lie for most of his life until a near-fatal car crash causes him to decide to live openly as a gay man. Leaving his wife and moving to Florida, Steven becomes a Con Man to pay for his extravagant new lifestyle until the law catches up with him and he's sent to prison. While inside, he's able to navigate the system quite well and meets a shy inmate named Phillip Morris, who he immediately falls in love with. Following his release, Steven poses as a lawyer and manages to get Phillip out early. After earning more money by lying his way through a trial, Steven is able to land a job as a CFO of a large medical management company by posing as his own references and faking his resume. After getting caught for embezzling huge amounts of money from his company and being sent to prison once more, Steven stages several clever and successful escapes in order to reunite with Phillip. This eventually leads to his greatest trick when he manages to fake his own death from AIDs over several months, solidifying himself as a genius planner and manipulator.
• Memetic Bystander: Cleavon the mopping prisoner, who has a few minutes screentime but some of the most memorable lines:
  Guard: I said turn it off!
  Cleavon: Fuck you, pig.
  Guard: Turn it off or we're coming in!
  Cleavon: Well come on in — I got a dick that needs sucking.
• Moment of Awesome: You fucker!
  • Clevon getting in a fight with several guards just to keep the song he was paid to put on playing.
• Tear Jerker: The last 15 minutes are like a rollercoaster for your emotions.
  • A particular mention goes to when Phillip and Steven are talking while Steven is dying of AIDS, since over that time the audience has seen Steven slowly die... but he's fine.
• The Woobie: Poor Phillip gets pulled into so much trouble and heartache because of Steven, especially when he believes Steven died of AIDS, and then Steven comes back to him literally seconds later.
  • From his introduction in the film, Phillip is the epitome of this trope.

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