Review of Me, Myself & Irene

Introduction

Presumably it was only a matter of time before box-office champ Jim Carrey reteamed with the guys who helped put him there (Peter and Bobby Farrelly), whose ‘Dumb and Dumber’ pushed Carrey’s career into the stratosphere. So, as Carrey’s soaring status suffered a last-minute stumble (the commercial failure of the high profile Andy Kaufman biopic ‘Man on the Moon’) it made sense to team up with the Farrelly’s, whose star continued to rise after the sleeper success of ‘There’s Something About Mary’. The result: a long gestating project where Carrey plays Hank and Charlie, two personalities inhabiting the same body. So, if you’re thinking this material is ripe for tasteless exploitation by two shameless gross-out-provocateurs, you’d be right. But is it funny?

Video

Top quality anamorphic transfer with excellent contrast and colour definition. The Farrellys` movies have a scrappy, old-dog flavor, so the images themselves are not the most artfully defined you’ll have seen, but the transfer is near flawless.

Audio

Good use of the Dolby 5.1 surround track that is mainly utilized through an eclectic soundtrack and ambient background sound.

Features

Well, at least the menu is fab: if you access the pill capsule icon on the menu screen and subsequently withhold your dosage of medicine, the menu flickers maniacally from Charlie’s gentle pastel blues to Hank’s garish red. Sweet. If only the extras themselves were as invested with imagination: Some mediocre deleted scenes, a typically rubbish five minute featurette, an amusing Foo Fighters pop promo for ‘Breakout’ and some trailers and TV spots. The directors’ commentary is stultifyingly dull for the most part, consisting almost solely in the Farrellys’ pointing out their friends and family hanging about in the background of shots. Fascinating. Ironically, the best feature wasn’t even noted on the back of the check disc: some surprisingly funny behind the scenes footage.

Conclusion

Charlie (Carrey) is a sweet and repressed Highway Patrolman; Hank (Carrey) is a tactless creep who indulges in a variety of uncensored behaviors and possesses a truly versatile body of obscene language. The trouble is, both guys are in love with the same woman: Irene (Renee Zellweger) who just happens to be on the run from insidious Mob types led by Indie staple Chris Cooper. So, Irene, Charlie and Hank must evade the bad guys on an eventful cross-country jaunt (as with, seemingly, every Farrelly movie) and many tasteless jokes ensue (of the cow-killing/oversized-dildo/chicken-head-enema variety) as Charlie and Hank battle for Irene’s affections.

If much of the trademark crude humor is surprisingly funny, the rest wreaks of desperation or also-rans: a mass-murdering albino (Michael Bowman), endless slapstick schtick, more masturbation etc etc. The film is at its best when its on firmer ground: Hank, Carrey’s evil alter-ego, who talks in a crisp taunting sneer, is hilariously sinister, and oddly enough, a far more interesting and agreeable character than the pure-as-driven-snow Charlie. Charlie’s three black sons (don’t ask!) are a foul-mouthed delight and one only wishes they got more screen time. Sadly, Zellweger suffers from having to play another of the Farrelly’s impossibly crass female character sketches and thus ends up being the weakest crutch in the movie. The Farrellys may name their movies after their leading ladies, but it doesn’t stop the characters themselves from being little more than plastic portraits at the butt of streams of demeaning gags.