Me, Myself & Irene

Me, Myself & Irene
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Peter Farrelly Bobby Farrelly
Produced by	Peter Farrelly Bobby Farrelly Charles B. Wessler Bradley Thomas
Written by	Peter Farrelly Bobby Farrelly Mike Cerrone
Narrated by	Rex Allen, Jr.
Starring	Jim Carrey Renée Zellweger Chris Cooper Robert Forster Richard Jenkins
Music by	Pete Yorn Lee Scott
Cinematography	Mark Irwin
Editing by	Christopher Greenbury
Studio	Conundrum Entertainment
Distributed by	Twentieth Century Fox
Release date(s)	June 23, 2000 (2000-06-23)
Running time	116 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English German
Budget	$51 million
Box office	$149,270,999

Me, Myself & Irene is a 2000 American comedy film 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.

Plot

A narrator (Rex Allen, Jr.) introduces Charlie Baileygates (Jim Carrey), an 18-year veteran Rhode Island State Police trooper who has been taken advantage of by people throughout most of his life.

Immediately after marriage, his wife, Layla (Traylor Howard), cheats on him with a dwarf African-American limousine driver named Shonté (Tony Cox), who, like Layla, is a member of the high-IQ group Mensa. Charlie's friends try informing him of his wife's infidelity, but he denies the possibility. One year later, Layla runs off with Shonté, leaving Charlie to raise three biracial sons who are the products of Layla's adulterous affair with the limo driver (and one of whom is actually named Shonté, Jr.).

Charlie never sees his wife again. He raises his illegitimate triplets allowing them to watch Richard Pryor stand-up and all access to sweets and unbalanced diets. Two of the three become obese, and all are foul-mouthed young adults, but they are also highly intelligent (like their biological parents) and they treat Charlie much better than anyone else.

His wife's affair and abandonment leaves Charlie so emotionally damaged that he lets himself be abused and taken advantage of by others. Despite his friendliness and his being a police officer, the townspeople reject Charlie's authority with open scorn.

After years of continuous abuse, Charlie develops a rude and violent split personality named Hank, caused by "advanced delusionary schizophrenia with involuntary narcissistic rage". As Hank, he goes around retaliating against anyone who has accosted him — and even harms those who really haven't. A psychiatrist prescribes a medicine to keep Hank suppressed.

Believing that Charlie needs a vacation, his commanding officer (Robert Forster) orders him to escort a woman named 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 was created by Dickie, her mob-connected ex-boyfriend, and by corrupt police officers in his employ.

When hitmen arrive with a contract on Irene's life, Charlie agrees to help her escape. A United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agent is killed by the hitmen. Charlie accidentally leaves his medicine behind, causing his alter ego, Hank, to surface without warning.

The FBI suspects that Charlie is responsible for assassinating the EPA agent. The FBI joins Charlie's commander in pursuing him and Irene. Charlie's sons pretend to work with the police to find their father, but steal a helicopter to get to Charlie before the police do.

Along the way, Irene and Charlie grow close. However, Hank's random appearances both disgust and frighten Irene. Hank's aggression and resourcefulness aid in their survival, but Irene finds herself attracted to Charlie. Hank tells her about Charlie's life, and how years of humiliation have destroyed Charlie's confidence.

Hank has plastic surgery performed on Charlie's face. He also uses hours of careful cunning to trick Irene into sleeping with him by posing as the good-natured Charlie. They meet a mild-mannered but mysterious young albino man named Casper (Michael Bowman). (Hank often calls Casper names like "Whitey" and "Milky" as a cruel joke.) They continue their journey as a trio, until Casper calmly tells Charlie the story of how he brutally murdered his entire family. Charlie and Irene, frightened by this, sneak away in the night.

Dickie orders corrupt agents to kill both Charlie and Irene, then decides to settle the matter himself after they fail. Charlie finally manages to eliminate the alternate personality and regain the courage to rescue Irene, but only after Dickie shoots off one of his thumbs. Charlie is aided in the fight by Casper, who reappears to throw a lawn dart into Dickie's back, killing him. Charlie apologizes for making him kill again, but Casper explains that he made up the story about being a murderer in order to seem cool to Charlie, and that his family now lives in Arizona.

With Hank gone, and Dickie's crew dead or behind bars, Irene is finally free to return to her old life. She drives away, but the Rhode Island State Police pull her over. The arrest is a set-up, giving Charlie a chance to propose to her. Irene accepts, much to happiness of Charlie's sons and Casper, who watch from a plane and compliment the viewer for watching the movie.

A post-credits scene shows Charlie, his sons, Irene and Casper looking for Charlie's thumb in the river; however, Casper sees it get eaten by a fish underwater.

Cast

• Jim Carrey as Charles "Charlie" Baileygates/Henry "Hank" Evans
• Renée Zellweger as Irene P. Waters
• Chris Cooper as Lt. Gerke
• Robert Forster as Colonel Partington
• Richard Jenkins as Agent Boshane
• Zen Gesner as Agent Peterson
• Michael Bowman as Casper
• Daniel Greene as Dickie Thurman
• Anthony Anderson as Jamal Baileygates
  • Jeremy Maleek Leggett as 9-year-old Jamal Baileygates
• Mongo Brownlee as Lee Harvey Baileygates
  • Andrew Phillips as 9-year-old Lee Harvey Baileygates
• Jerod Mixon as Shonté Jr. Baileygates
  • Justin Chandler as 9-year-old Shonte Jr. Baileygates
• Tony Cox as Limo Driver
• Steve Tyler as Delivery Room Doctor
• Traylor Howard as Layla Baileygates
• Richard Tyson as Gun shop owner
• Cam Neely as Trooper Sea Bass
• Ryan Barnes as son #1
• Ezra Buzzington as Disabled guy
• Lin Shaye (deleted scenes) as Mrs. Caleron
• Lina Teal as Bikini girl
• Anna Kournikova and Cam Neely appear in cameo roles

Music

The film's original score was written by Pete Yorn, while the movie's soundtrack contains several covers of Steely Dan songs performed by other bands. Examples are Smash Mouth's cover of "Do It Again", Ben Folds Five's cover of "Barrytown", and Marvelous 3's cover of "Reelin' in the Years". Other songs include "Breakout" by Foo Fighters, "Totalimmortal", originally by AFI but covered by The Offspring, "The World Ain't Slowin' Down" by Ellis Paul, and "Strange Condition" by Pete Yorn.

1. "Breakout" – Foo Fighters
2. "Do It Again"+ – Smash Mouth
3. "Deep Inside of You" – Third Eye Blind
4. "Totalimmortal" – The Offspring
5. "The World Ain't Slowin' Down" – Ellis Paul
6. "Any Major Dude Will Tell You"+ – Wilco
7. "Only A Fool Would Say That"+ – Ivy
8. "Can't Find The Time To Tell You" – Hootie & The Blowfish
9. "Bodhisattva"+ – Brian Setzer Orchestra
10. "Bad Sneakers"+ – The Push Stars
11. "Reelin' In The Years"+ – Marvelous 3
12. "Strange Condition" – Pete Yorn
13. "Barrytown"+ – Ben Folds Five
14. "Razor Boy"+ – Billy Goodrum
15. "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. Other songs, that appeared in the film are not included on the soundtrack album.

Reception

Box office

The film had the biggest opening on the weekend of June 23, 2000 making US$24.2 million in its opening weekend. 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.

Critical response

The film received generally mixed reviews. Review website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 48%, based on 97 reviews, and an average rating of 5.4/10, with the consensus that "The Farrellys manage to produce some laughs with Irene, but the jokes have become tired."

External links

• Me, Myself & Irene at the Internet Movie Database
• Me, Myself & Irene at AllRovi
• Me, Myself & Irene at Box Office Mojo
• Me, Myself & Irene at Rotten Tomatoes