Me, Myself & Irene

Me, Myself & Irene
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Peter Farrelly
Bobby Farrelly
Produced by
  • Peter Farrelly
Written by Mike Cerrone
Peter Farrelly
Bobby Farrelly
Starring
Narrated by Rex Allen Jr.
Music by
Cinematography Mark Irwin
Edited by Christopher Greenbury
Production
company
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date
  • June 23, 2000 (2000-06-23)
Running time
 116 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $51 million[1]
Box office $149 million[1]

Me, Myself & Irene is a 2000 American dark comedy film[2] directed by the Farrelly brothers, and starring Jim Carrey and Renée Zellweger. Chris Cooper, Robert Forster, Richard Jenkins, Daniel Greene, Anthony Anderson, Jerod Mixon and Mongo Brownlee co-star. The film is about a Rhode Island state trooper named Charlie who, after years of continuously suppressing his rage and feelings, suffers a psychotic breakdown which results in a second personality, Hank. This was also Carrey's first role in a 20th Century Fox film.

Plot

Charlie Baileygates (Jim Carrey) is a veteran Rhode Island State Police trooper who has been taken advantage of by those around him, starting with his former wife Layla (Traylor Howard). Despite his friends warning him of Layla's infidelity, Charlie refused to accept she was in an affair, even after she gave birth to triplet black boys. She leaves with her midget genius black lover, Shonté, abandoning her children. Charlie raises the triplets: Jamal, Lee Harvey, and Shonté Jr (Anthony Anderson, Jerod Mixon, Mongo Brownlee), likewise geniuses. While Charlie is loved and respected by his adoptive sons, he is continually abused by the rest of the town, who see him as a stupid coward. As a result of years of such treatment, Charlie develops a split personality named Hank to deal with the confrontations Charlie avoids. Emerging whenever Charlie is under extreme stress, Hank is an over-the-top, rude, and violent persona reminiscent of characters played by Clint Eastwood.[3] A psychiatrist prescribes medication to keep Charlie's Hank personality at bay.

Believing that Charlie needs a vacation, his commanding officer (Robert Forster) orders him to escort Irene Waters (Renée Zellweger) from Rhode Island to Massena, New York, because she reportedly committed a hit-and-run. Irene insists the hit-and-run accusation is a lie told by Dickie (Daniel Greene), her mob-connected ex-boyfriend, and by corrupt police officers in his employ, to keep her from revealing Dickie's illegal activities to the authorities. In Massena, Charlie turns over Irene to two United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agents. A hitman with a contract on Irene's life kills one of the EPA agents. Irene turns to Charlie, and they flee, leaving his medication behind in their haste, allowing the Hank personality to emerge frequently. Dickie's law enforcement contacts blame Charlie for the murder of the EPA agent. FBI agents begin pursuing him and Irene, as do crooked police officers in Dickie's pay, Boshane (Richard Jenkins) and Gerke (Chris Cooper). The chase becomes a media spectacle, alerting Charlie's sons to his predicament.

Charlie and Irene return to Rhode Island, developing a bond along the way. Though Irene is taken by Charlie's personality, the frequent emergences by Hank worry her, as his aggressive personality and overestimation of his own toughness often gets them into trouble. Along the way they pick up Casper aka "Whitey" (Michael Bowman), an albino waiter who claims he killed his entire family. While stopping at a motel, Hank convinces Irene to have sex with him by impersonating Charlie. When Charlie realizes what happened the next morning, he is incensed and begins fighting with Hank. They are almost ambushed by Boshane and Gerke, but Charlie's sons, having found them, steal a police helicopter and call in a false report, stating Charlie and Irene have been spotted in the woods nearby.

Charlie and Irene leave Casper behind at the motel and board a train back to Rhode Island. Dickie boards the same train, having been ordered by his superiors to "get his hands dirty". He kidnaps her, and Charlie gives chase, working together with Hank to save her. Hank balks when Dickie heads onto a bridge, but Charlie finally stands up for himself against his fears, thus permanently nullifying Hank. As Charlie tries to disarm Dickie, Dickie shoots off his thumb. Dickie is then hit from behind by a lawn dart thrown by Casper, killing him. Charlie and Irene fall from the bridge into a river below. Charlie's sons arrive to rescue them. Regrouping with Casper, Charlie apologizes for making him kill again, but Casper reveals he made up his backstory for fear of Hank. The police arrive but quickly learn of Irene's plight and the corrupt cops working for Dickie. Gerke is arrested, Charlie is congratulated for bringing him to justice, and Irene is cleared of the charges against her.

Irene prepares to leave Rhode Island when she is pulled over by the police, but this proves only to be a diversion to allow Charlie to propose marriage to her, which she happily accepts.

Everyone looks for Charlie's thumb in the river. Whitey finds it, but a fish eats it.

Cast

Music

The film's original score was written by Pete Yorn, while the movie's soundtrack contains eight covers of Steely Dan songs.

  1. "I'd Like That" – XTC
  2. "Breakout" – Foo Fighters
  3. "Do It Again"+ – Smash Mouth
  4. "Deep Inside of You" – Third Eye Blind
  5. "Totalimmortal" – The Offspring
  6. "The World Ain't Slowin' Down" – Ellis Paul
  7. "Any Major Dude Will Tell You"+ – Wilco
  8. "Only A Fool Would Say That"+ – Ivy
  9. "Can't Find The Time To Tell You" – Hootie & The Blowfish
  10. "Bodhisattva"+ – Brian Setzer Orchestra
  11. "Bad Sneakers"+ – The Push Stars
  12. "Reelin' In The Years"+ – Marvelous 3
  13. "Strange Condition" – Pete Yorn
  14. "Barrytown"+ – Ben Folds Five
  15. "Razor Boy"+ – Billy Goodrum
  16. "Where He Can Hide" – Tom Wolfe

+Steely Dan cover

"Motherfucker" by The Dwarves, "Fire Like This" by Hardknox, "Don't Say You Don't Remember" by Beverly Bremers, "The Perpetrator" by Hipster Daddy-O and the Handgrenades, and "Hem of Your Garment" by Cake were included in the movie but not on the soundtrack. Pete Yorn's "Just Another" can also be heard it the background, during the scene where they discuss Hank's idea. Alta Mira's "El Capitan" can be heard in the background, during the scene where Hank fights Charlie at the train station.

Reception

Box office

The film opened at #1 on the weekend of June 23, 2000, making US$24.2 million in its opening weekend.[4]

The film earned $90,570,999 in the United States, and a further $58,700,000 internationally for a worldwide total of $149,270,999.[1]

Critical response

Review website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 47%, based on 99 reviews, and an average rating of 5.4/10, with the consensus that "While Jim Carrey's comedic skills earn some laughs, Me, Myself and Irene sports a tired, unsatisfying plot."[5] Online review aggregator Metacritic states the film has a score of 49 out of a possible 100 based on 35 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Me, Myself and Irene". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  2. ↑ Michael Blanding & Alexandra Hall. Moon Handbooks Vermont. Moon Publications.
  3. ↑ Saathof, Evan (30 June 2015). "The Split Tonal Personality Of ME, MYSELF, & IRENE A look at the Farrelly Brothers' funniest drama". Birth. Movies. Death. Retrieved 22 May 2016. Sometimes Charlie is Charlie; sometimes he is Hank, a mean jerk who sounds like a bad Clint Eastwood impression and doesn’t take any guff from anyone.
  4. ↑ "Me, Myself and Irene Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  5. ↑ "Me, Myself & Irene". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  6. ↑ "Me, Myself & Irene". Metacritic. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
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