 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Me Myself I
- Review Date: May 4, 2003
- R
- Genre: Drama
- 2000
Common Sense Media says
Interesting premise, but designed for adults only.
Parents say
Kids say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this movie contains strong language, sexual references, including adultery, and sexual situations, including a comic encounter with a diaphragm. Characters smoke and drink, including use of alcohol to soothe anxiety, loneliness, and fear. One character attempts suicide.
What's the story?
Rachel Griffiths (Oscar nominee for Hilary & Jackie) plays Pamela Drury, a harried 30-something magazine writer who wonders if she made a mistake, 13 years earlier, when she turned down a marriage proposal from Robert (David Roberts). She gets a chance to find out when she is hit by a car driven by none other than herself, the Pamela who married Robert and who is now living in the suburbs with husband, three children, and a dog. The second Pamela disappears, leaving Pamela One to cope with assorted domestic crises. But she begins to warm to family life. Things are more complicated than she thought, though. As Pamela One, she met an attractive and sympathetic teacher named Ben (Sandy Winton), who tells her he once thought of being a journalist, and who dashes her hopes of romance when she sees him with a wife and children. As Pamela Two, she meets him in his other incarnation, now a single journalist who never got over the death of his first love.
Is it any good?
As in Groundhog Day or It's a Wonderful Life, the main character gets a different perspective on his/her life, and gets a second chance to make it work. But this situation has some special poignance because it relates to the central conflict of many women's lives -- and many men's, too -- the balance between work and family. Pamela's struggle, as Pam Two, to make her writing assignment into something meaningful about the modern woman, is a metaphor for her experience. So is her Pam Two nightie, with "Tic Toc Tic" on the front.
What Pam learns from experiencing her "what if" helps to turn her from someone who recites affirmations to herself every morning to someone who truly learns to value herself enough to connect to someone else. ME MYSELF I opens with young girls telling us their dreams -- fashion designer, supermodel, wife and mother. Pam asks her own daughter (well, Pam Two's daughter) about her dreams, but she is content for the moment to be open to everything.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about how we make decisions and handle the consequences, and how any meaningful achievement at home or work requires sacrifices in other areas. They may also want to discuss why the youngest child is the only one who can tell the difference between the two Pams -- is he the only one who really looks at her? -- and how couples handle the challenges of long-term relationships.
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| Studio: | Columbia Tristar |
| Director: | Pip Karmel |
| Cast: | David Roberts, Rachel Griffiths, Sandy Winton |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Run time: | 104 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | April 7, 2000 |
| DVD release date: | September 19, 2000 |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | sexuality and some language |
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