ME, MYSELF & IRENE (20th Century Fox) Starring: Jim Carrey, Renee Zellweger, Chris Cooper, Robert Forster, Richard Jenkins, Anthony Anderson, Mongo Brownlee, Jerod Mixon. Screenplay: Peter Farrelly & Mike Cerrone & Bobby Farrelly. Producers: Bradley Thomas & Bobby Farrelly & Peter Farrelly. Directors: Bobby Farrelly & Peter Farrelly. MPAA Rating: R (profanity, adult themes, sexual situations, violence) Running Time: 116 minutes. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill went public ten days before the release of ME, MYSELF & IRENE with a protest of the film's flippant tone towards multiple personality disorders. They were offended, which is not an uncommon reaction to a Farrelly Brothers movie. In fact, it was probably a shrewd move on NAMI's part to beat the rush condemning ME, MYSELF & IRENE. Operating strictly from memory, here's a list of the groups that could conceivably find something in the film to be offended by: African-Americans, little people, African-American little people, lesbians, law enforcement officers, animal rights activists, albinos, nursing mothers, users of feminine itch remedies ... and, of course, advocates for the mentally ill.
Farrelly Brothers movies -- including KINGPIN and THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY -- are tasteless, crude and, yes, occasionally offensive. They're also funny in the sort of I-can't-believe-I-actually-saw-that way usually associated with vintage Mel Brooks, or the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team. There's nothing remotely ennobling about ME, MYSELF & IRENE, the story of Charlie Baileygates (Jim Carrey), a Rhode Island state trooper with a little problem. After his wife leaves him for another man, Charlie is left with three growing boys and a need to avoid confrontations. His repressed id eventually takes the form of an alter-ego named Hank that appears whenever Charlie is enraged and unmedicated. That little problem becomes a big problem when Hank is assigned to escort Irene Waters (Renee Zellweger) back to New York on an arrest warrant, and soon discovers that Irene is being targeted by a corrupt cop (Chris Cooper) who thinks she knows something about his activities. Unfortunately, Charlie has forgotten his medication, meaning Charlie and Hank both have the opportunity to grow infatuated with Irene while they're on the run.
Fans of THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY -- and I count myself quite squarely among them -- may find IRENE a bit disappointing by comparison. Carrey and Zellweger aren't nearly the perfect comic odd couple Ben Stiller and Cameron Diaz were, nor is Carrey the sort of comic performer whose ordinary guy demeanor works to balance the Farrellys' warped sensibilities. The story is an unnecessarily convoluted parade of double-crossing characters involved in a dirty business deal the specific nature of which I still can't explain. There are a few missed opportunities, like ignoring genial narrator Rex Allen, Jr. for much of the film. And like the Farrellys' previous films, it's easily 15 minutes longer than it needs to be, padded with musical cues that only distract from the real reason for watching a Farrelly Brothers movie: seeing what gut-busting affront to good taste they'll come up with next.
Mere words can't possibly do justice to those affronts. IRENE's finest moments may not reach the epic heights of MARY's zipper or hair gel scenes, but they come close. There's a ridiculously funny running gag involving Charlie's three "sons" from his wife's affair, a trio of immense black youths with Mensa minds and Richard Pryor mouths. Hank's uninhibited rampage of vengeance upon his first emergence gets more outrageous by the moment. Then there's a morning visit to the lavatory that turns into a battle between Charlie and his own excretory equipment. Sometimes it seems that it's a long time between laughs in a Farrelly Brothers movie, but maybe that's a good thing. Often, you still haven't recovered from the last one five minutes ago by the time the next one rolls around.
I'm not about to delve into whether or not NAMI was "right" in criticizing IRENE for its approach to multiple personality disorder, including repeatedly using "schizo" as a synonym. I do know that ME, MYSELF & IRENE strikes me as a wildly comic spin on THE INCREDIBLE HULK more than anything else, with Carrey's contorted transformations a special effect all by themselves. That's only part of the amazingly adept physical comedy Carrey pulls off, battling with his own body like Steve Martin in ALL OF ME ... or, come to think of it, like Carrey himself in LIAR LIAR. This time, however, he doesn't have to fight against insipid moralizing. ME, MYSELF & IRENE may be uneven and peculiarly violent in its resolution, but it's pure in its refusal to sentimentalize anything. Everything is profane and nothing sacred in the Farrelly universe. Maybe that is worth protesting. Or maybe, when you're laughing so hard that you forget to be offended, it's worth applauding.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 repeat offenders: 7.
Visit Scott Renshaw's Screening Room http://www.inconnect.com/~renshaw/ *** Subscribe to receive new reviews directly by email! See the Screening Room for details, or reply to this message with subject "Subscribe".
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews