he
Farrelly brothers are back. After their huge hits Dumb and Dumber
and There's Something About Mary, they have returned with
Hollywood's
Carrey plays Charlie Baileygates, a mild-mannered 17-year veteran of the Rhode Island Police Department. Unfortunately, he has split personality disorder, and when he runs out of medication he turns into Hank Baileygates, Charlie's hyper-aggressive alter-ego. Charlie and Hank have nothing in common other than falling in love with Irene Walters (Zellweger), a beautiful woman on the lam.
Charlie is assigned the job of transporting Irene across state lines to answer for her suspicious outstanding traffic warrant, and along the way he misplaces his medication, allowing his brash, profane alter-ego, Hank, to surface. When both personalities begin battling for the love of their prisoner, Irene finds herself oddly attracted to both.
Included in the supporting cast are Oscar nominee Robert Forster, Farrelly
favorite Richard Jenkins (There's Something About Mary) and Chris Cooper (American Beauty).
"Me, Myself & Irene is just the same old, same old," jokes Bobby Farrelly. "We
pretty much rip ourselves off from movie to movie. Seriously, we hope this will have as many big laughs as Mary did. Suffice it to say, I don't think people use the word 'mature' with us very often."
The Farrelly's brand of humor continues to surprise - sometimes even their own cast members. "I've never done anything like this in my whole life, ever," Zellweger exclaims. "You can't imagine some of the stuff these guys come up with. My dad can't see this movie."
"Believe it or not, the first thing we think about is not the laughs, but the character," offers Peter Farrelly. "We want to create characters that audiences will love enough for us to get away with murder. That comes first. We will only go as far as the character will allow."
Carrey is coming off an outstanding performance in Milos Forman's dramedy Man On The Moon, and next up is Ron Howard's Dr. Seuss classic How The Grinch Stole Christmas, so there's little doubt that he's at the top of his game.
As for Renee Zellweger, since co-starring with Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire, she has also starred with Meryl Streep in One True Thing, Chris O'Donnell in The Bachelor and Chris Rock and Morgan Freeman in the forthcoming Nurse Betty.
The Farrelly's chose their native Rhode Island to film much of Me, Myself & Irene, which also provided locations for There's Something About Mary and Dumb and Dumber. Apparently, Carrey captivated the locals around the seaside resort of
Newport with his new look for the film - a flat-top buzz-cut hairdo and state
trooper's uniform.
Mind you, I'm sure watching Jim Carrey, in or out of uniform, for a couple of weeks of filming is a trip in itself.
- Gerry Young