Release Year: 2000 Rating: R Duration: 116 minutes Other Title: Me, Myself and Irene Director: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly Producer: Bobby Farrelly, Bradley Thomas, Peter Farrelly Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Jim Carrey plays a Rhode Island State Trooper named Charlie who has a multiple personality disorder. One personality is crazy and aggressive, while the other is more friendly and laid back. Both ofthese personalities fall in love with the same woman named Irene after Charlie loses his medication.
cast
Jim Carrey as Officer Charlie Baileygates/Hank Evans
Hank Evans: Vagiclean," huh? What's the matter, honey? Little extra cheese on the taco?
Mrs. Bittman: Excuse me?
Hank Evans: No, excuse me. There's no tag on this.
[grabs microphone]
Hank Evans: Price check on Vagiclean, aisle five. I repeat: price check on Vagiclean, aisle five. That's Vagiclean. We've got a customer down here with a full-on fallopian fungus. She's baking a loaf of bread and I think it's sourdough.
You just know a movie isn't good when it manages to make Renee Zellweger, the always dependable, wholly likable single mom in Jerry Maguire and troubled, conflicted daughter of Meryl Streep in One True Thing, seem like nothing more than an unfortunate plot device. It's also disappointing, but no surprise, however, that Carrey is appearing in a stinker; the physical comedian tends to hit (Dumb & Dumber, Liar Liar) and miss (his grating live television appearances) with his outrageous antics. You'd think such a pair, both of whom are fully capable in the dramatic and comedic areas of acting, would seek a more sophisticated, challenging film than the Farrelly brothers' Me, Myself & Irene, an absolutely tasteless, occasionally funny romp whose heart is secondary to its obscenity (as opposed to the 1998 Farrelly brothers hit There's Something About Mary, whose heart was definitely in the right place). There may have been a time when the sight of Jim Carrey throwing himself out of a car would have mildly amused me, but there's something horribly depressing about watching the actor, who's received two Golden Globe statuettes for his more serious work, scrape the bottom of the barrel for laughs in such drawn out, obvious gags whose concepts aren't clever to begin with. The potential is certainly there: Carrey portrays Charlie Baileygates, a Rhode Island police officer with an alter ego. Watching the Ace Ventura star slide in and out of Charlie, the overly bright and sunny persona, and Hank, the trash-talking, violent-tempered entity who reveals himself after Charlie has let one too many people take advantage of his everlasting friendliness, it's obvious that Irene, which gets its title from Charlie's/Hank's foul-mouthed, confused love interest (Zellweger), could have been a landmark both for Carrey and for the screwball comedy genre. Charlie, ordered to take Irene from Rhode Island to New York, is thrown into some zany situations, a few of which make for some good laughs (a stint involving a cow who just won't die), but most of which make for some stomach-churning groans (anything and everything involved at the hotel Charlie and Irene check into).
