JIM Carrey delivers his best dramatic performance since Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind in this improbable and utterly incredible true story.

Based on a novel by Steve McVicker, I Love You Phillip Morris charts the romance of two prison inmates and their subsequent journey of self-discovery on both sides of the bars.

Writer-directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (Bad Santa) strike a pleasing balance between laughter and soul-searching in this oddball comedy.

Crucially, Carrey, above, generates smouldering screen chemistry with co-star Ewan McGregor, convincing us that undying love and a daredevil spirit can overcome anything.

Truth is far, far stranger than Ficarra and Requa's entertaining fiction, which takes dramatic licence with dialogue and abbreviates the exploits of their white collar criminal during the 1980s and 1990s, who escaped incarceration four times and has paid a terrible price.

I Love You Phillip Morris is sweet, sexy and at times hilarious, posing the obvious dilemma: Can a gay con man go straight?