Me, Myself and Irene

Details

Charlie Baileygates is a mild-mannered Rhode Island state trooper whose complete inability to confront anybody has led to the local population taking advantage of him. His neighbour steals his morning paper and allows his dog to use Charlie's lawn as a toilet, whilst the locals completely ignore his attempts to enforce the law. No matter what happens, Charlie simply smiles politely and bottles up his anger.

Eventually, years of frustration become too much and Charlie develops Hank, a no-nonsense alter ego who has absolutely none of Charlie's inhibitions. Hank says exactly what he thinks, takes whatever he wants and isn't remotely concerned about upsetting anybody in the process. His behaviour understandably alarms the Rhode Island police department and Charlie is sent to a psychiatrist who prescribes medication to keep Hank under control.

With Charlie apparently back to normal, he's given the supposedly straightforward job of escorting Irene Waters back to upstate New York to answer some motoring charges. Unfortunately, Irene has become mixed up in a rather more serious situation involving her former boyfriend and a group of corrupt police officers who are determined to stop her talking.

What should have been a simple journey rapidly becomes a fight for survival as Charlie and Irene find themselves on the run. Things aren't helped when Charlie misplaces his medication, allowing Hank to make increasingly frequent appearances at the most inconvenient moments. Worse still, both Charlie and Hank begin developing feelings for Irene, creating a rather unusual love triangle involving only two people but three personalities.

Picture & Sound

The picture is bright and colourful with some fabulous colour tones and excellent levels of detail. The above-average bit-rate delivers a cracking picture with no obvious signs of artifacting, picture noise or outlining. It certainly lives up to its THX certification and is yet another disc which highlights just how good a picture DVD can deliver.

Although the disc is THX certified, complete with the standard rather boring THX fanfare at the beginning, the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is surprisingly restrained. There's some use of the surround channels for ambient effects and the occasional helicopter fly-by, but most of the action remains firmly across the front soundstage.

Still, what is there is extremely clean. Dialogue is clear and precise throughout, the musical soundtrack has plenty of presence and there are enough occasional surround effects to remind you that the rear speakers haven't been disconnected. It's perfectly adequate for a comedy such as this, but don't expect the THX logo to result in the sort of room-shaking experience found on a major action film.

Menu & Extras

The film is complemented by a barrage of extras. Starting with the animated and scored menus, there are the usual television spots, featurettes and stills gallery, along with the Foo Fighters' Breakout music video and plenty of additional material to work through.

Also included, and still one of my favourite uses of DVD technology, is an optional extended branching version of the film. Rather than simply dumping the deleted scenes into a separate menu, this allows you to watch them inserted back into the film at the points where the directors originally intended them to appear. It's exactly the sort of feature that demonstrates what DVD can offer over VHS.

The deleted scenes can also be watched separately with optional commentary, whilst no Farrelly Brothers film would be complete without an audio commentary from Bobby and Peter themselves. Throw in the various making-of vignettes, DVD-ROM material and THX certification and this is a very respectable package indeed.

Overall

The warped minds, and sense of humour, of the Farrelly Brothers are well and truly at work in this completely politically incorrect film. If you found There's Something About Mary offensive then you probably shouldn't even put this disc into your player, as virtually nobody escapes without becoming the target of a joke.

Jim Carrey is ideally suited to the dual role. As Charlie he's almost painfully polite and restrained, allowing everybody around him to walk all over him, whilst Hank gives Carrey the opportunity to unleash the manic physical comedy that made him famous. Watching the transformation between the two personalities provides many of the film's best moments, particularly when years of Charlie's suppressed anger finally come bursting out. The confrontation with the unfortunate woman suffering from a slight fungal problem is still probably the funniest sequence in the film.

Carrey's performance actually reminded me of the much underrated The Cable Guy. There's something similarly uncomfortable about Hank because, underneath all the ridiculous behaviour, he's effectively everything Charlie has spent years refusing to say or do. Naturally, the Farrellys aren't particularly interested in exploring the psychology when there's a tasteless joke waiting around the corner, but it gives Carrey rather more to work with than simply pulling faces at the camera.

Renée Zellweger makes a good foil for all the madness and wisely plays Irene relatively straight, whilst Charlie's three frighteningly intelligent sons provide some of the film's funniest running jokes. Chris Cooper and Richard Jenkins also add some welcome support, although this is unquestionably Carrey's film from beginning to end.

Unfortunately, it never quite reaches the heights of There's Something About Mary. There are some hilarious moments, but the laughs aren't quite as consistent and the story begins to lose momentum during the later stages. At nearly two hours it's also arguably a little too long for this sort of comedy and trimming fifteen minutes or so might have helped maintain the pace.

However, if you're a fan of the Farrelly Brothers you'll still find plenty to enjoy and the excellent DVD package certainly adds to the attraction. On the other hand, if you like Jim Carrey but are a little reserved when it comes to sick jokes, bodily functions and completely inappropriate humour, you should perhaps consider giving this one a miss - bearing in mind that you'll also be missing a cracking Carrey performance.

Special features

• Commentary by Bobby and Peter Farrelly
• Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary
• Extended Branching Version
• Trailers and TV Spots
• "Making of" Vignettes
• Featurette
• Foo Fighters Music Video "Breakout"
• Stills Gallery
• THX Certified
• DVD-ROM Enhanced