Me, Myself, and Irene: 20th Century Fox/ Conundrum Entertainment Rating: USA: R/ Australia: MA
I’m not really sure why it is exactly that I feel the need to put a little personal note in this review—maybe it’s because with my 28th birthday looming on the horizon, I don’t want to seem old and out of touch. Whatever the reason, I’d like it to be known that I like juvenile humor—gross out gags, sexual innuendo, toilet and bodily function humor, profanity—you name it, it usually will elicit a giggle from me. That being that, I was really looking forward to catching the new Jim Carrey flick Me, Myself, and Irene—a film made by the Farrelly brothers, the sick puppies who brought us Something About Mary. Unfortunately, about an hour into the film, the only thing I was looking forward to was the end of the movie. In short, Me, Myself, and Irene personifies tedium.
The film tells the story of Charlie (Jim Carrey: The Cable Guy, Liar Liar) a mild-mannered Rhode Island State Trooper. As the film opens, we see Charlie and his young girlfriend (each wearing one of those really tacky shirts with the other’s face on it) talking about the future. Jump ahead to their wedding day, where, after a violent encounter with the midget limo driver (who also happens to be African-American), they settle down to a life of domestic bliss. Soon, Charlie’s wife is giving birth to triplets—who, strangely enough, seem to be awfully dark-skinned, a fact that Charlie attributes to his grandmother being part Italian. Of course, there can’t be any domestic bliss in the movies, because no one wants to see a bunch of happy people. So, Charlie’s wife takes off with the midget limo driver, who she’s been having an affair with for the last few years, and vanishes from his life.
This is the turning point for Charlie—he swallows his hurt and anger, and tries to be a good dad to his three sons (who take a great amount of pleasure in watching old Richard Pryor specials on HBO). But, there’s a problem…Charlie has become so used to sublimating his real feelings that he’s become a literal doormat for everyone around him—that is, until he snaps one day while in line at the grocery store and his alter-ego Hank appears.
Hank’s the polar opposite of Charlie—not afraid to say anything—a fact which the Farrelly’s use in order to try and up the comedy stakes of the film. Unfortunately, they’re only half successful. Charlie gets diagnosed as schizophrenic, and as long as he takes his medicine, everything’s ok. Meanwhile, Irene (Renee Zellweger: Jerry Maguire), who’s come to Rhode Island to visit a relative, gets picked up for a recent warrant. Charlie has to take her back to New York—ah, but it’s not that simple…Irene’s old boyfriend owns a golf course, and he’s apparently under investigation by the Feds. The Feds want Irene to find out what she knows about his criminal operations, while her ex and the cops on his payroll simply want her dead. If you figure out that this leads to Charlie/Hank/Irene going on the run, and Charlie forgetting his medication, then give yourself a screenwriter’s credit. If you also figure out that there will, inevitably, be a weird love triangle, sell your house now and move to Hollywood—you’re more than qualified to be writing feature films.
Honestly, there are so many problems with this movie that I have no clue where to start.
First off, the film runs 116 minutes in length—which is a very long time for a comedy. Yeah, there have been successful comedies that ran roughly that long, but they had something that this film doesn’t—an interesting plot. Frankly, there’s very little plot in this movie—and what is there is designed only to get us to the next gross-out humor scene. The story is flat and bland, little more than a variation of countless other films we’ve all seen over and over, only with the Jim Carrey brand of physical comedy thrown into the mix. Yet, while there’s no real plot to the film, that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing if the film were shorter. Unfortunately though, this is a seriously flabby film, full of self-indulgent scenes that really add nothing to the story and bog the plot progression down in a major way. I’m not kidding when I say that you could easily cut thirty minutes from this movie and lose nothing.
Still, even though the plot is weak and the film drags on, the film does feature Jim Carrey. Carrey can carry a movie all by himself, but unfortunately, he never really gets much of an opportunity here. I’m not exactly sure how this happened, but Hank/Charlie are the two flattest, most one-dimensional characters I’ve seen in a long time. Each has only one speed—Charlie’s is whiny wimp, Hank’s is ‘bad Dirty Harry’ impersonation. Now, we’ve seen Carrey play a mentally unbalanced character before (The Cable Guy) and he did a much better job in that role, mainly because Chip had more than a single dimension to his character—which in turn allowed Carrey to add nuance and range to his performance (good god, did I just mention ‘nuance’ in the same sentence as Jim Carrey?) Carrey’s always had a gift for physical comedy, but here, it’s rarely showcased, as the Farrelly’s seem to find the idea of him spouting vulgarities more amusing. When he does get the chance to do some of his ‘elastic man’ schtick, it’s only in the forced and contrived ending showdown where Charlie and Hank battle it out from inside the same body—and to be honest, it’s nowhere near as good as Bruce Campbell’s epic battle with his right hand in Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn.
At least Carrey gets an opportunity to do something though—the rest of the cast doesn’t fare nearly as well. Robert Forster, Rene Zellweger, and the rest of the cast are completely secondary in every scene—either to Carrey’s antics or the Farrelly’s next sight gag. You can’t even comment on the other performances, because frankly, there are no performances…everyone basically stands around filling the frame here. There are a few cameos in the film, so at least you can play ‘spot the celebrity’ to alleviate some of your boredom. Astute viewers will see female tennis player Anna Kournikova (keep your day job, Anna), Boston Bruins great Cam Neely, and B movie softcore porn legend Shannon Whirry in brief roles throughout the film.
Ok, so I’ve really picked on the movie…it’s just not very good. I could, however, forgive many of these cinematic sins if the movie was actually funny. Sadly, there’s really not much humor to be found in Me, Myself, and Irene—and what is there is either obvious, or pointless. Basically, the film has about 3 gags—the fact that Charlie’s kids are black, geniuses, and curse constantly, Hank’s ‘Dirty Harry’ antics, and the bathroom humor. The Farrelly brothers take these three bits, and just keep recycling them over and over and over—and what was pretty funny the first time you saw it becomes totally lame by the time you’re an hour into the film. Making matters worse is that most of the ‘bathroom humor’ in this film isn’t even funny to begin with…is a dog defecating on a lawn hilarious? How about a guy with a chicken stuck up his rear end? Neither scene did much for me, but apparently someone finds them amusing.
Summing up, viewing Me, Myself, and Irene wasn’t a fun experience. It’s overly long, uninspired, and fairly banal. It lacks any of the subversive intelligence and wit that have made other gross-out comedies successful (South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, for example). The Farrelly brothers turn in a flabby, sloppy, self-indulgent mess of a film where it becomes brutally obvious that they’re their own biggest fans. The movie drags on interminably, continually milking the three jokes that they could come up with until they’ve been run into the ground—and then they force you to watch another hour of the movie. I know that there are people out there who will love this film—and I say, to each his own. Comedy tastes are truly subjective, and if you love this film, more power to you. I, on the other hand, didn’t like this film, and I have a hard time believing that anyone other than teens and the most hardcore Carrey/Farrelly brothers fans would disagree.
Jim Carrey delivers a hysterical performance in this fall-down, flat-out, irresistibly deranged movie (Rolling Stone). Rhode Island state trooper Char...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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