directed by bobby farrelly and peter farrelly . screenplay by mike cerrone , farrelly and farrelly . starring jim carrey , renee zellweger , chris cooper . running time : 116 minutes . rated aa for coarse language by the mfcb . reviewed on june 28th , 2000 . in a way , i have a lot in common with charlie baileygates . i consider myself , all things considered , a nice guy . i'm polite . i do favors without expectation of reward . i could count on one hand the number of times in the past five years that i've gotten really , blood-boiling , vein-in-the-neck-throbbing angry . sometimes , i'm probably a bit of a pushover . i've often wondered what would happen if , one day , i just . . . snapped . the new comedy " me , myself & irene " is devilishly entertaining wish fulfillment . charlie , played by jim carrey , is a rhode island state trooper . the film opens with a flashback to eighteen years ago , when charlie married his sweetheart layla ( traylor howard ) . on their wedding day , charlie became involved in an inadvertent fracas with shonte ( tony cox ) , a black midget limo driver who , like layla , was a card-carrying mensa member . soon , layla and shonte were having an affair , and nine months later she gave birth to triplets : three african-american baby boys . outwardly oblivious , charlie raised the kids as his own ( despite the fact that one is actually named shonte jr ! ) . fast forward to the present . charlie is rearing the boys by himself , layla having run off with shonte years earlier . his " sons " ( anthony anderson , mongo brownlee , and jerod mixon ) have grown into brilliant but foul-mouthed prodigies -- witness their hilarious , profanity-laden quantum mechanics study session . but gullible charlie has become the state joke , and one day all his pent-up rage externalises itself . . . as a split personality , hank , a gruff-talking , aggressive , no-nonsense jerk . there's more to the plot than this , of course , as charlie/hank becomes involved with irene ( renee zellweger ) , who is being hunted by corrupt new jersey cops because of her involvement with a crooked golf course owner . or something . frankly , the specifics of this whole storyline are made murkily clear at best , and really don't matter anyway . the point is just to keep charlie/hank and irene together for an extended period of time , and embroil them in a series of wacky encounters . " me , myself & irene " is a funny movie , but it is in many ways a victim of its own publicity campaign . so much of the set-up has been revealed in trailers and in print that a lot of the humor which could have arisen from the unexpected and improbable scenario has been defused by our familiarity with the material . imagine , for instance , directors bobby and peter farrelly's last picture , " there's something about mary " , if you knew chris elliott was woogie . few comedies can sustain the laughs no matter how well-acquainted we are with them ( " the philadelphia story " does it for me ; so does " mystery science theater 3000 " ) . " me , myself & irene " is no exception . there's also something of a miscalculation in the script by the farrellys and mike cerrone . hank starts off as an amusing character -- consider his revenge against a woman who skips ahead of charlie in the supermarket line-up , for example -- but then the writers seem to assume that hank as a concept is good enough . however , hank himself isn't funny ; he's grotesque , really . to work , hank needs to be doing funny things , but for much of the middle third of the film , he doesn't , and this contributes to long stretches of comparative tedium . there are also some really bizarre moments , like the late introduction of another companion for charlie and irene , the weird albino whitey ( michael bowman ) , whose inclusion seems almost an afterthought . or the inexplicable cameo appearance by tennis star anna kournikova , which seems to exist just so we can realise , " hey , that's anna kournikova ! " fortunately , things pick up heading into the home stretch , especially once charlie and hank start to coexist simultaneously . it is these scenes in particular that really give carrey a chance to shine , and he makes exhaustive use of his rubber-faced , marionette-limbed repertoire . carrey also does a good job playing charlie and hank as truly different yet fundamentally interconnected , and it's a shame his material wasn't more consistent . his interaction with the boys , for instance , is priceless , as he slips effortlessly into urban slang : " that be whack ! " zellweger is also enjoyable , and gives irene enough strength to hold up against the human onslaught that is carrey . but irene is a poor successor to cameron diaz's character in " mary " , because whereas diaz was both the instigator and victim of comic moments , zellweger is usually just left to react to carrey's antics . there has been some controversy surrounding " me , myself & irene " , and the erroneous association of the term " schizophrenic " with charlie's split personalities . although the term " schizo " is used on occasion in the film , it is never employed by someone who should know better -- instead they spit out " advanced delusionary schizophrenia with narcissistic rage " like it rolled right off the tongue . the purported " controversy " is a non-starter . indeed , i was surprised to find that the subject of multiple personalities is not just used as ammunition for jokes , but instead earns some serious consideration as well . there is a theme running throughout " me , myself & irene " that many people assume fabricated identities , be it for profit , or escape , or just to cover up a mistake . this is true not just of charlie , but also irene , whitey , the corrupt cops , even shonte the limo driver . " me , myself & irene " being the kind of movie that it is , the idea is not pursued to any great lengths , but i appreciated its inclusion nonetheless . i had great hopes for this reteaming of jim carrey and the farrelly brothers ( they first worked together on " dumb and dumber " ) , and in the final analysis i'll admit to feeling a little disappointed . " me , myself & irene " is not the best comedy for either , trying but failing to be as funny and outlandish as superior entries in their respective filmographies . but it is very entertaining all the same -- and if it doesn't appeal to the charlie in you , maybe there's a little bit of hank lurking inside that will enjoy it instead . copyright © 2000 shannon patrick sullivan . archived at the popcorn gallery , <a href= " http : //www . physics . mun . ca/~sps/movies/memyselfandirene . html " >http : //www . physics . mun . ca/~sps/movies/memyselfandirene . html</a> _______________________________________________________________________ / shannon patrick sullivan | " we are all in the gutter , but some of us \ | <a href= " mailto : shannon@mun . ca " >shannon@mun . ca</a> | are looking at the stars . 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