For a generation of moviegoers, the Farrelly Brothers name means something. Specifically, it means a very pointed combination of gross-out comedy and emotional sentiment — films that are more than happy to dabble in literal excrement and ask you honestly shed a little tear over the characters embarking on some kind of emotional journey. The headlines and the buzz are always about the nastiest gags and grossest moments (she puts what in her hair?), but audiences often who showed up hoping to be appalled often found themselves lulled into something weirdly gentle and sweet. Sometimes, the combination doesn't work at all and the result is an unpleasant, tonal disaster. But when it does work? Well, that's when you get something that feels very specific to Peter and Bobby Farrelly, two of the most memorably mainstream, lowbrow auteurs to emerge from the '90s.
Because there are such extreme highs and lows across the Farrelly filmography,...
Because there are such extreme highs and lows across the Farrelly filmography,...
- 11/11/2023
- by SlashFilm Staff
- Slash Film
The Farrelly brothers' "Me, Myself & Irene" has a divided personality, which has nothing to do with the split-personality disorder that afflicts its hero. Peter and Bobby Farrelly, who have carved out a niche for themselves as gross-humor specialists in Hollywood, clearly want to expand their horizons. Yet they remain just as determined to reward their fans' expectations for bathroom jokes. So this film firmly plants its feet in two camps -- a sentimental story of a man trying to locate his true nature and a series of slapstick antics to rival the championship tastelessness of their best films, "Dumb & Dumber" and "There's Something About Mary".
This strain of seriousness puts a considerable stress on the comic talents of the Farrellys and their star, Jim Carrey. Carrey, whose hyper, rubber-limbed comedy always seems so fluid, labors long and hard here, to diminishing returns. The faithful -- which are legion as far as Carrey and the brothers are concerned -- will turn out for "Me, Myself & Irene." But prospects for a long run look iffy. The film will probably be remembered as an experiment that failed but will have its minority adherents. Like Jerry Lewis' original "The Nutty Professor", people will either love or hate "Me, Myself & Irene."
Certainly the premise sounds promising. Carrey plays Charlie Baileygates, a Rhode Island state trooper whose niceness has been exploited by people his whole life. That includes an ex-wife (Traylor Howard), who sired three black children by her lover while married to Charlie only to abandon him several years later.
One day he suffers a breakdown. This produces Hank, a completely opposite personality to Charlie -- a brash jerk who talks dirty, seeks confrontation and has sex on the brain. As this mental disorder puts Charlie's job in jeopardy, the trooper is given one last assignment -- to escort Irene (Renee Zellweger), an attractive woman with an outstanding arrest warrant, to another part of the state to face a hit-and-run charge. Charlie and Hank both fall hard for her and wage total war against each other to win her affections.
So far so good. But shouldn't Hank be more fun? Carrey certainly has the right idea about how to play Hank. Affecting a soft, gravelly voice reminiscent of Clint Eastwood's whispery snarl as Dirty Harry, Carrey stiffens his body, spreads his legs and swaggers side to side.
Yet the Farrellys, who write (with Mike Cerrone) and direct, haven't designed scenes that truly exploit this change in Charlie's personality. Hank, in fact, is every bit as ineffectual as Charlie. He even receives more lumps on his noggin than Charlie does.
Then the in-the-same-body fights between Charlie and Hank swiftly grow old. As highly talented as Carrey is, he can't make these abrupt physical and mental transitions the least bit convincing. And, unfortunately, they escalate as more plot mechanics kick in, with Rhode Island crime bosses out to assassinate the pair and a local police force convinced that Charlie has killed a cop and kidnapped Irene.
The film has several great gags -- Carrey's broken nose that alternately sounds like a wind tunnel and birds chirping and a urination scene that has to be seen to be believed. But the film wobbles badly between these brief moments of physical comedy and long stretches of a semiserious romance that will heal Charlie's divided psyche.
As directors, the Farrellys have always been wildly erratic. Their movies lurch from one set piece to another, with many flat-footed scenes connecting the sublime comedy. But "Irene" feels much more haphazard than the brothers' previous films. It's too long and repetitive, with the Farrellys unable to tell when to drop something.
Actresses work at a disadvantage opposite Carrey, whose comic performances are self-
contained. Zellweger is certainly game: She's working hard in every scene and refuses to let Carrey's shenanigans upstage her. But a second fiddle is never going to lead the band.
Even more squandered are such talented actors as Robert Forster and Chris Cooper, who look like their agents booked them in the wrong movie. The most successful of the supporting performances come from Anthony Anderson, Mongo Brownlee and Jerod Mixon as Charlie Black's triplet sons, whose foul mouths belie their superior IQs. They play off one another with smooth proficiency and good-natured camaraderie. Their lines aren't that funny, but they themselves, as a kind of reverse Three Stooges, are extremely funny.
Technical credits are professional but lack flair.
ME, MYSELF & IRENE
20th Century Fox
Conundrum Entertainment
Producers: Bradley Thomas, Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Directors: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Writers: Peter Farrelly, Mike Cerrone, Bobby Farrelly
Executive producers: Charles B. Wessler, Tom Schulman
Director of photography: Mark Irwin
Production designer: Sidney J. Bartholomew Jr.
Music: Peter Yorn, Lee Scott
Co-producers: Marc S. Fischer, James B. Rogers, Mark Charpentier
Costume designer: Pamela Withers
Editor: Christopher Greenbury
Color/stereo
Cast:
Charlie/Hank: Jim Carrey
Irene: Renee Zellweger
Jamaal: Anthony Anderson
Lee Harvey: Mongo Brownlee
Shonte Jr.: Jerod Mixon
Lt. Gerke: Chris Cooper
Col. Partington: Robert Forster
Running time -- 120 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
This strain of seriousness puts a considerable stress on the comic talents of the Farrellys and their star, Jim Carrey. Carrey, whose hyper, rubber-limbed comedy always seems so fluid, labors long and hard here, to diminishing returns. The faithful -- which are legion as far as Carrey and the brothers are concerned -- will turn out for "Me, Myself & Irene." But prospects for a long run look iffy. The film will probably be remembered as an experiment that failed but will have its minority adherents. Like Jerry Lewis' original "The Nutty Professor", people will either love or hate "Me, Myself & Irene."
Certainly the premise sounds promising. Carrey plays Charlie Baileygates, a Rhode Island state trooper whose niceness has been exploited by people his whole life. That includes an ex-wife (Traylor Howard), who sired three black children by her lover while married to Charlie only to abandon him several years later.
One day he suffers a breakdown. This produces Hank, a completely opposite personality to Charlie -- a brash jerk who talks dirty, seeks confrontation and has sex on the brain. As this mental disorder puts Charlie's job in jeopardy, the trooper is given one last assignment -- to escort Irene (Renee Zellweger), an attractive woman with an outstanding arrest warrant, to another part of the state to face a hit-and-run charge. Charlie and Hank both fall hard for her and wage total war against each other to win her affections.
So far so good. But shouldn't Hank be more fun? Carrey certainly has the right idea about how to play Hank. Affecting a soft, gravelly voice reminiscent of Clint Eastwood's whispery snarl as Dirty Harry, Carrey stiffens his body, spreads his legs and swaggers side to side.
Yet the Farrellys, who write (with Mike Cerrone) and direct, haven't designed scenes that truly exploit this change in Charlie's personality. Hank, in fact, is every bit as ineffectual as Charlie. He even receives more lumps on his noggin than Charlie does.
Then the in-the-same-body fights between Charlie and Hank swiftly grow old. As highly talented as Carrey is, he can't make these abrupt physical and mental transitions the least bit convincing. And, unfortunately, they escalate as more plot mechanics kick in, with Rhode Island crime bosses out to assassinate the pair and a local police force convinced that Charlie has killed a cop and kidnapped Irene.
The film has several great gags -- Carrey's broken nose that alternately sounds like a wind tunnel and birds chirping and a urination scene that has to be seen to be believed. But the film wobbles badly between these brief moments of physical comedy and long stretches of a semiserious romance that will heal Charlie's divided psyche.
As directors, the Farrellys have always been wildly erratic. Their movies lurch from one set piece to another, with many flat-footed scenes connecting the sublime comedy. But "Irene" feels much more haphazard than the brothers' previous films. It's too long and repetitive, with the Farrellys unable to tell when to drop something.
Actresses work at a disadvantage opposite Carrey, whose comic performances are self-
contained. Zellweger is certainly game: She's working hard in every scene and refuses to let Carrey's shenanigans upstage her. But a second fiddle is never going to lead the band.
Even more squandered are such talented actors as Robert Forster and Chris Cooper, who look like their agents booked them in the wrong movie. The most successful of the supporting performances come from Anthony Anderson, Mongo Brownlee and Jerod Mixon as Charlie Black's triplet sons, whose foul mouths belie their superior IQs. They play off one another with smooth proficiency and good-natured camaraderie. Their lines aren't that funny, but they themselves, as a kind of reverse Three Stooges, are extremely funny.
Technical credits are professional but lack flair.
ME, MYSELF & IRENE
20th Century Fox
Conundrum Entertainment
Producers: Bradley Thomas, Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Directors: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Writers: Peter Farrelly, Mike Cerrone, Bobby Farrelly
Executive producers: Charles B. Wessler, Tom Schulman
Director of photography: Mark Irwin
Production designer: Sidney J. Bartholomew Jr.
Music: Peter Yorn, Lee Scott
Co-producers: Marc S. Fischer, James B. Rogers, Mark Charpentier
Costume designer: Pamela Withers
Editor: Christopher Greenbury
Color/stereo
Cast:
Charlie/Hank: Jim Carrey
Irene: Renee Zellweger
Jamaal: Anthony Anderson
Lee Harvey: Mongo Brownlee
Shonte Jr.: Jerod Mixon
Lt. Gerke: Chris Cooper
Col. Partington: Robert Forster
Running time -- 120 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 6/19/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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