| RATING: | 80% |
| FORMAT: | DVD |
Being Yourself
Very funny black romantic-comedy about a closet gay who comes out and leaves his previous Christian religiosity behind him to embrace his true self. We are effectively drawn into the world of a con-man because we are only told what he is prepared to tell us. Because this film is as emotionally-rewarding as it is, you almost hope the cheats get away with it.
Jim CARREY is excellent and completely inhabits his character. The idea that so many homosexuals hide their sexuality by joining homophobic religions neatly encapsulates the conflicts within each of them that come from living in a homophobic West as the selfsame conflict in that culture itself - especially the idea that gays are naturally prone to criminality. Ewan McGREGOR is also superb as the eponymous character and there is a genuine chemistry between the two leads that makes the romance truly affecting. Along with the high quality of the comedy, the sheer ineptitude of the US judiciary revealed here quite simply boggles the imagination.
Where this film fails is in its lack of insight into compulsive or addictive behavior. We never really understand why the lead is such a kleptomaniac except his desperate need for attention. Do all adoptees turn out so maladjusted and anti-social? Yet, like The Life & Death of Peter Sellers, this is essentially a treatise on identity - about a man who demands attention and is desperate to keep it - by telling lies. Yet, such a man does not really exist in any meaningful sense since his lies are designed to cover his essential sense of inferiority.
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