Starring: Jim Carrey and Renée Zellweger

  Genre: Comedy

  Running Time: 116 Minutes

  Rating: R for sexual content, crude humor, language & violence.

  Video Release: January, 2001

  Tagline: "From gentle to mental."

When the Farrelly Brothers and Jim Carrey get together, be prepared for some very strange comedy to occur. Such is the case in the latest Farrelly/Carrey collaboration, Me, Myself, and Irene. If you’re PC sensitive or can’t take vulgar humor (or just plain MF’ing vulgarity, period), then you might want to rent "Pokémon meets the Care Bears" instead. If not, then proceed to...

...our story: Where Charlie Baileygates (Carrey) is a Rhode Island state trooper suffering from a split personality. Charlie, an easy going chap, allows himself to be the target of abuse and instead of dealing with his problems, buries them deep within. Over the years, his suppressed feelings manifest into an alter-ego which materializes as the rogue cop named, Hank. This Dirty Harryish ruffian says and does as he pleases and begins a war with all around him and with his gentler side, Charlie.

Set in flashback with V.O. narration, Charlie’s woes began eighteen years prior when his new wife (Traylor Howard) runs off with a limo driving, black midget (Tony Cox). Nine months later, Charlie finds himself taking care of a set of triplets -- Shonté Jr. (Jerod Mixon), Lee Harvey (Mongo Brownlee), and Jamaal (Anthony Anderson). Charlie raises these children as his own (despite the obvious fact that they’re not) and the three boys grow (over-grow?) into three "mutha-fin’ genius-IQ teenagers" who get into deep topics like Quantum Physics and Astronomy.

Flash-forward to the present where Charlie, now the town joke, more-or-less, gets to a breaking point and goes off the deep-end. Hank is conceived and the frenzy begins. Hank introduces himself to the town through a series of extremely funny sequences. He helps park a friend’s car (by crashing it into the front window of his shop), educates a young girl on respecting the police (by plunging her head into the town fountain), and sharing in the warmth and joy of breast-feeding. [Imagine Carrey, milk-mustache and all, in one of those "Got Milk" commercials].

Needless to say, his superior Colonel Partington (Robert Forster), isn't too thrilled with this behavior; diagnosed as "advanced delusional schizophrenia with involuntary narcissistic rage" [try to say that 3X fast]. With plans on letting Charlie go from the force, his supervisor gives him a final assignment to escort Irene (Renée Zellweger) back to her home state to be arraigned on charges of embezzlement. Along the way, Charlie loses his medication (which keeps his "Mr. Hyde" persona from emerging) and a road trip from hell ensues in which the entire R.I. state police set after him.

A plot? The film has one; vaguely. Irene is wanted by a crooked policeman, Lieutenant Gerke (Chris Cooper), who is involved in a scam with her former boss Dickie Thurman (Daniel Greene) to defraud the EPA. It’s Charlie/Hank’s job to keep Irene safe from these thugs while keeping himself out of jail. A rather thin narrative line ... the plot takes a back seat in Me, Myself, and Irene for its prime objective is a showcase for Carrey and the Farrellys. The script’s split personality theme allows Carrey to parade his comedic talents as both kind-hearted goof and scowling lunatic and allows for a wide range of humor from the hilarious to crude to downright insipid.

Some of the more tasteless jokes include a "butt-ket of chicken," a new meaning for "road-kill," and the "soiling the neighbor’s lawn" scene. For some, the MF’ing trio and nunchaku wielding-midget might be intolerable. For others it might be the urination/dildo scene. Whatever your taste/distaste, there’s plenty of offensive material here and that’s what makes the Farrelly Brothers (Dumb and Dumber and There's Something About Mary) unique -- in their own perverted way.

While so many entertainers go out of their way to not offend its audience, the joke is on them, for "you can’t appease all the people, all the time." For Carrey and the Farrellys, well, they’re laughing their way all the way to the bank. The $51M budget (partially due to Carrey’s enormous salary) managed to fare rather well at the box office; little over $140M worldwide. Those figures tell us that there’s plenty of PC folks out there, who just love to be anti-PC... as long as its in a darkened theater where no one can see them.

Me, Myself, and Irene had its moments but, then again... it - had - its - moments! Give it a 3.

© Terrence J. Brady