Directed by: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Written by:Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Starring: Jim Carrey, Renee Zellweger, Chris Cooper, Robert Forster, Richard Jenkins, Traylor Howard
Released: June 22, 2000
Grade: B-

The Farrelly brothers redefined the comedy genre with Dumb And Dumber, the underrated Kingpin and of course who can forget There’s Something About Mary.  They have proved with their latest, Me, Myself And Irene, that nobody is perfect.

Jim Carrey plays Charlie, a local police officer from Rhode Island who was happily married until his wife left him for the wedding chauffeur.  Now with three sons to raise on his own, Charlie is the laughing stock of the community because of his inability to observe his wife’s infidelities (the hints are rather obvious).  Charlie has bottled up his emotions and refuses to move on in life.  That is until he develops a split persona - Hank.  Hank is the exact opposite of Charlie and isn’t somebody you want to mess with.

Irene (Zellweger) arrives in town from New York but is forced to return when summoned by the police and it is Charlie’s responsibility to escort her there.  Things become twisted when an attempt is made to eliminate Irene under the assumption she knows details of a big money laundering scam.  In the mayhem that ensues, Charlie loses his schizophrenia medication, which releases Hank from within, and both have fallen for Irene...

The Farrelly’s are the kings of gross-out comedy and this film makes an effort to push the boundaries even further.  There are some truly disgusting moments highlighted by a scene involving a bet, a police officer and a chicken.  Another highlight came when Hank tries to put down an injured cow.  There were however plenty of jokes that left an eerily dead silence in the cinema with a good example being a lengthy scene between Charlie/Hank and an albino waiter at a restaurant.

Jim Carrey has all his facial expressions on show but they’ve been seen many times before and their amusement is short lived.  Rene Zellweger plays second fiddle to Carrey and does little to advance the comedy.  Most members of the supporting cast are also wasted.  It seems Carrey’s gets all the great lines and the rest are left as puppets.

The film is a bunch of set-up jokes with a story based around them.  This was a similar technique to that used effectively in There’s Something About Mary.  The application is not quite as productive in Me, Myself & Irene due to the weaker cast and script.

Featuring plenty of toilet humour (and I mean that literally at times), this new film will take a big chunk out of the box-office yet leave many expectations unmet.  The Farrelly brothers will be back with bigger and better material as they continue to take chances and I do look forward to seeing their next film.  As for now, this is just another one of “those” comedies that you’d expect from a Martin Lawrence or an Adam Sandler.  Certainly not a Jim Carrey.