Anthony's Film Review - Me, Myself, and Irene (2000)

There is humor in this movie, but it seems more mean spirited than lighthearted...

Me, Myself, and Irene could have been a good comedy. That's not to say it isn't funny. For me, my experience watching it did involve some laughter, but it was mixed with a greater amount of disgust. While the disgust was mostly mild, it was still something that prevented me from saying this movie is good enough to enjoy. It tips my rating for this movie from marginally positive to marginally negative. If you're curious, I will gladly explain.

When it comes to humor, I can laugh at pretty much anything, because I believe anything can be made funny if done right. The last part is most important. Some topics are of such a serious nature that it takes a sensitive humorist to make it funny without alienating too people who are closely connected with the subject matter. Yes, there will always be people who will find certain things offensive, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to minimize emotional damage while writing comedy.

The reason I bring this up is simple. This movie suffers from trying to generate laughs from a sensitive subject: mental illness. It stars Jim Carrey as Charlie, a cop with multiple personality disorder. He's a nice guy until he is completely stressed out. That's when he turns into Hank, who does a lot of rude and obnoxious things. There is a sequence in the beginning of the movie where this happens. Two of the things he does are quite shocking. One involves something he does to a woman breastfeeding her baby. The other involves carrying a newspaper to a lawn right after an image of a defecating dog. If you have a dirty mind, you can pretty much guess what happens specifically.

The story involves Charlie protecting Irene, played by Renee Zellweger, from some dangerous men. Interestingly enough, Charlie has three foster sons, all African-American boys whose dialogue is a mixture of intelligent stuff and vulgar swear words. These sons, including one played by Anthony Anderson, do come into play later on. Basically, the plot is a backdrop against which we see jokes about Charlie and Hank. By the way, another offensive joke involves Hank insulting an albino waiter. At that point, you can tell the movie could no longer save itself.

Overall, the problem I had with Me, Myself, and Irene wasn't that the script was poorly written. The humor was certainly there. It's mainly the poor choice of comedic material. If anyone is complaining that this movie is offensive to people with mental illnesses, I can understand. I found myself cringing more than laughing because I have seen such conditions in other people. That's not to say you can never make a comedy film out of this subject. If you can do it in a more positive way, I might give the movie a chance. As it stands, I say you can find better comedies to watch than this one.

Anthony's Rating:

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