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	20th 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

Charlie Baileygates (Jim Carrey) is an 18-year veteran Rhode Island State Police trooper who has been taken advantage of by people throughout most of his life. Immediately after his marriage, his wife, Layla (Traylor Howard), cheats on him with a limousine driver, Shonté (Tony Cox), who, like Layla, is a member of Mensa. Although Charlie's friends try informing him of his wife's infidelity, he still denies the possibility. Layla eventually runs off with Shonté; leaving Charlie to raise the three black sons who are the products of Layla's adulterous affair with the limo driver. His kids are brought up using very vulgar language, but are also very smart, like their real father, and treat Charlie much better than anyone else. The affair leaves Charlie emotionally damaged to such an extent that he lets himself be abused by others. Despite his being a police officer, the citizens reject Charlie's authority with open scorn.

After some time of continuous abuse by the people around him, his anger builds up and 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. The psychiatrist prescribes a medicine to keep his double personality suppressed.

Believing that Charlie needs a vacation, the force tells him to escort a woman named Irene Waters (Renée Zellweger) to Massena, New York, because she reportedly committed a hit-and-run. However, the hit-and-run was actually committed by Dickie, Irene's partner. When some hit men arrive with a contract on Irene's life, Charlie agrees to help her escape, while a United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agent is killed by the hit men. Charlie leaves his medicine behind, causing his alter ego, Hank, to surface any time he wants.

The FBI suspects that Charlie is responsible for assassinating the EPA agent. Charlie's sons pretend to work with the police to find their father, but throw the police off his trail and proceed to steal a police helicopter to get to Charlie before the police do. Meanwhile, Dickie orders corrupt agents to kill both Charlie and Irene. After they fail, Dickie decides to settle the matter himself. During the confrontation with Dickie, Charlie manages to eliminate the alternate personality, Hank. Eventually, he manages to stop Dickie, but he shoots Charlie's thumb off and Whitey helps by throwing a lawn dart into Dickie's back. As with Hank gone, and the other guys behind bars. Irene departs as Charlie fakes an arrest for her and proposes to her. Later, Irene and Whitey have moved in with Charlie and the boys.

Cast

• Jim Carrey as Charlie Baileygates/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/Whitey/Milky
• Daniel Greene as Dickie Thurman
• Anthony Anderson as Jamal Baileygates
• Mongo Brownlee as Lee Harvey Baileygates
• Jerod Mixon as Shonté Jr. Baileygates
• Tony Cox as Shonté Jackson
• Steve Tyler as Delivery Room Doctor
• Traylor Howard as Layla Baileygates
• Richard Tyson as Gun shop owner
• Cam Neely as Trooper Sea Bass
• Ezra Buzzington as Disabled guy
• Lin Shaye (deleted scenes) as Mrs. Caleron
• Lina Teal as Bikini girl
• Richard Pryor and Chris Rock (archive footage, uncredited) as Stand-up comedians on TV
• 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 96 reviews, and an average rating of 5.3/10, 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