I initially started watching this without really knowing anything other than the fact that it had Jim Carrey in it, that it was a Con movie and that it had a rating above 80% on Rotten Tomatoes. Reason enough for me to want to watch it as soon as possible. I'm sure you can imagine my surprise, then, when Jim Carrey started kissing dudes. The actual reveal that Carrey's character is gay is pulled off quite excellently, however, and the handling of the subject is done quite elegantly throughout, but also fairly unashamedly. This isn't for homophobes, let me say that right now.
Other than the gay thing, though, the film follows Carrey's constant conning and deception throughout his life, which reminded me a bit of a more comedy-oriented Catch Me If You Can. Carrey's acting is excellent as usual, but Ewan MacGregor is clearly out of his element; he is constantly either overacting or underacting, and he is never believable, which hurts most of the romance scenes he is involved in.
All things considered, this is a very entertaining film based on a very interesting real con man, that is pretty daring in its treatment of the gay subject (which is a good thing). There isn't really any point to it all, though, and there's nothing much to take from it other than "being gay is fine!". Seeing as the events are mostly true, though, I guess that isn't the movie's fault.
In a sentence:
Great acting by Carrey, interesting situations and a daring take on homosexuality are somewhat dampened by Ewan MacGregor's poor acting and the fairly empty (if entertaining) storyline. Good fun regardless.
