Me, Myself & Irene

Starring: Jim Carrey, Renee Zellweger, Chris Cooper, Anthony Anderson, Richard Jenkins, Mongo Brownlee, Jerod Mixon
Directed by: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy
2000

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: A cop (Jim Carrey) with a split-personality disorder tries to keep a woman (Renee Zellweger) safe while battling his alternate personality.

Review:

Tim: I am always surprised by how much I like Me, Myself & Irene. It's never a movie that stands out in my mind as a comedy classic, but I find myself really, really enjoying it whenever I watch. The Farrelly Brothers have created a funny, rude, controversial, offensive movie that is really entertaining. It was the perfect vehicle for Jim Carrey, and a very underrated movie.

There's so many elements of this movie that I really like. The basic premise is funny- a guy has two personalities- one is mild, one is wild. He can't control the other personality, and it obviously gets him in some humorous situations. While this isn't based in any kind of reality, this scenario is presented so well in the film that I was able to believe it, even when confronted with unrealistic scenarios like this one. The idea of a guy battling multiple personalities is funny, but it becomes genius with the casting of Jim Carrey. He's such a physical comedy force, and he does a terrific job here. Some of the funniest moments in the film involve his physical performance. His whole demeanor and his voice changes quite well as he changes between the two personalities. The funniest moments are when he actually fights himself. I don't know how he did it, but it actually looked like there were two personalities in the same body, fighting it out. It was pretty incredible to watch. Carrey's performance is one of the main reasons I like this movie.

Luckily, there's many other things to love about this movie. I actually found Carrey's three sons as one of the funniest aspects of the film. The whole story of their birth is great, but the brilliance comes from the humorous jokes mined from this throughout the film. It was great watching Carrey interact with his three sons, and their overt intelligence and foul mouths made for a terrific combination. I really laughed at this throughout the entire movie.

The scene with the cow is pretty humorous. One of my favorite moments is when Carrey tries to pee in the motel bathroom. The first time I saw this, I laughed uncontrollably. It's so unexpected and ridiculous, it really made me laugh. It's just a small thing, but it's really, really funny.

The main story is pretty weak. I still don't fully understand it- the EPA is trying to kill Renee Zellweger. I still am not completely sure why. That is a major issue with the film. It was humorous, and the characters were really fun, but the events of the movie just seemed weakly scripted. It was almost as if the events of the film didn't matter- they were only there to move our characters onto the next comedic moment. That was a big flaw with the movie.

Despite the weak story, I really enjoy this movie. Jim Carrey is fantastic, Renee Zellweger was quite good, and the interactions between the three (get it?) are quite funny. I found this to be an enjoyable, entertaining, oftentimes hilarious movie. While flawed, I still really, really enjoy this movie. I am often critical of the Farrelly Brothers, but this is one of their better efforts.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 7.5



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