Taglines: From gentle to mental.
It had all started when a patrol officer named Charlie Baileygates was married. Unfortunately, his wife left him for the short Black guy who was their limousine driver. Charlie is single again and taking care of three children. A series of misfortunes for Charlie developed an inner anger within him, then it came out in a form of another personality known as Hank Evans. While Charlie is nice, kind, and usually calm, Hank is the polar opposite of Charlie, being outrageous, mean, and short-tempered.
Luckily, Charlie told his doctor about this other personality, who prescribed him with medication to suppress Hank. One day, Charlie was assigned to personally escort a woman named Irene Waters to a prison in upstate New York. Then, a series of unfortunate events happen as both Charlie and Irene run into a group of corrupt cops and Irene’s abusive ex-boyfriend. In the middle of it all, Charlie loses his medication and now fears that Hank will present himself and make the situation worse.
Me, Myself & Irene is a 2000 American black comedy film[1] 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. This was also Carrey’s first role in a 20th Century Fox film.
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.
About the Story
Charlie Baileygates (Jim Carrey) is a veteran Rhode Island State Police trooper who has been taken advantage of by others around him, starting with his former wife Layla (Traylor Howard). Despite his friends warning him of Layla’s infidelity, Charlie refused to accept she was in an affair, even after she gave birth to triplet black boys, until she ran off with her midget genius black lover, Shonté, abandoning her children.
In the present, Charlie has raised the triplets as his own, Jamal, Lee Harvey, and Shonté Jr (Anthony Anderson, Jerod Mixon, Mongo Brownlee), likewise geniuses, but huge in size as compared to their biological father. While Charlie is consistently loved and respected by his “sons”, he is continually abused by the rest of the town, who see him as a stupid coward whom anyone can easily walk over.
As a result of years of such treatment, Charlie develops a split personality named Hank to deal with the confrontations Charlie avoids. Emerging whenever Charlie is under extreme stress, Hank is an over-the-top, rude, and violent persona reminiscent of characters played by Clint Eastwood.[2] A psychiatrist prescribes medication to keep Charlie’s Hank personality at bay.
Believing that Charlie needs a vacation, his commanding officer (Robert Forster) orders him to escort 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 is a lie told by Dickie (Daniel Greene), her mob-connected ex-boyfriend, and by corrupt police officers in his employ, to keep her from revealing Dickie’s illegal activities to the proper authorities.
In Massena, Charlie prepares to turn over Irene to two United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agents, when a hitman with a contract on Irene’s life attempts to assassinate her, killing one of the EPA agents. Charlie keeps Irene safe, and they flee, accidentally leaving his medication behind, allowing the Hank personality to emerge frequently. Meanwhile, the FBI suspects that Charlie is responsible for the murder of the EPA agent. FBI agents begin pursuing him and Irene, as do crooked police officers in Dickie’s pay, Boshane (Richard Jenkins) and Gerke (Chris Cooper). The chase becomes a media spectacle, alerting Charlie’s sons to his predicament.
Charlie and Irene decide to return to Rhode Island, developing a bond along the way. Though Irene is taken by Charlie’s personality, the frequent emergences by Hank worry her, though his more aggressive personality keeps them out of trouble. Along the way they pick up Casper aka “Whitey” (Michael Bowman), an albino waiter from a restaurant who claims he killed his entire family in the past.
While stopping at a motel, Charlie discovers how he might be able to suppress Hank and goes to have a conversation with Irene about it, and they sleep together. The next morning, Hank reveals that actually it was he who slept with Irene. In the confusion, they are almost ambushed by Boshane and Gerke, but Charlie’s sons, having found them, create a distraction, stealing a police helicopter, they call in a false report, stating Charlie and Irene have been spotted in the woods nearby, allowing Charlie and Irene to leave without knowing about the police who had left before they exited their room, leaving Casper behind.
Me, Myself and Irene (2000)
Directed by: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Starring: Jim Carrey, Renée Zellweger, Anthony Anderson, Mongo Brownlee, Jerod Mixon, Chris Cooper, Richard Jenkins, Robert Forster, Mike Cerrone, Daniel Greene
Screenplay by: Peter Farrelly, Mike Cerrone
Production Design by: Sydney J. Bartholomew Jr.
Cinematography by: Mark Irwin
Film Editing by: Christopher Greenbury
Costume Design by: Pamela Withers
Set Decoration by: Scott Jacobson
Music by: Lee Scott, Pete Yorn
MPAA Rating: R for sexual content, crude humor, strong language and some violence.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Relaase Date: June 23, 2000
Visits: 183
