ME, MYSELF & IRENE A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2
Hollywood's bad boys are back. Those equal opportunity offenders, the Farrelly brothers (writer-directors Bobby and Peter), who gave us 1998's funniest comedy, THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, turn their insults this time to subjects ranging from black Mensa dwarfs to killer albinos.
The biggest surprise in ME, MYSELF & IRENE is that watching the movie is about as much fun as attending a fireworks display on a rainy Fourth of July. Most of the jokes fizzle like soggy rockets, but a few do burst in a marvelous display of outrageous humor.
The problem with the jokes isn't that they are too offensive but rather that they simply aren't funny. The Farrelly brothers certainly acknowledge no bounds. Their star, Jim Carrey, even defecates on his neighbor's lawn in order to scare up a few laughs. Our admittedly sparse audience found little in the picture worth laughing at. Indeed the jokes that do work are more cute than outright funny. Whereas in THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY I thought I was going to bust a gut, this time I don't recall ever laughing loudly.
Carrey, as Charlie Baileygates (and his alter ego, the nefarious Hank), work for "the world's greatest police force -- the Rhode Island State Police," explains the film's purposely hokey narrator (Rex Allen, Jr.). Charlie is a mild mannered guy who lets people run all over him. When his wife gives birth to black triplets, Charlie is the only guy around who doesn't realize that his wife must have been cheating on him. (The kids grow up to be about 1,000 collective pounds of foul-mouthed wiz kids, doted upon by Charlie. His wife leaves him early in the story so he is left to raise the kids on his own.)
One day, Charlie snaps. His pent-up rage turns him into a "schizo" with an evil personality named Hank. Hank, who has more confidence than ability, thinks he is invincible, which gets him into no end of trouble. This leads to some of the film's best humor. Hank ends up with an unusual milk mustache in one clever scene. Another funny episode concerns his inaccuracy in his morning urination.
As Charlie's sweet companion, Renée Zellweger plays Irene P. Waters, a woman in trouble. Her ex-boyfriend has the EPA after him, and she finds herself drawn into the controversy. Soon corrupt cops (led by Chris Cooper in a wasted role) are chasing her, and Charlie and Hank are along for the ride, trying to defend her. Carrey goes back and forth between characters, enabling him to amply demonstrate his ability to transform and contort his body in remarkable ways. Although I didn't find it funny, his fight with himself is certainly a tour de force of his physical skills.
"Listen Pocahontas," Hank warns Irene. "If you don't put your head to the ground, you'll never hear the buffaloes coming." The Farrelly Brothers should have put their ears to the test screening walls more. If they had, they might have heard that the laughs weren't coming as they should on ME, MYSELF & IRENE.
ME, MYSELF & IRENE runs 1:56. It is rated R for sexual content, crude humor, strong language and some violence and would be acceptable for older teenagers.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com
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