Me, Myself & Irene

  • Review Date: June 24, 2003
  • R
  • Genre: Comedy
  • 2000
 Review

Common Sense Media says

The Farrellys strike again; avoid this awful film.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

Find out more

Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

Find out more

Parents say

Not yet rated

Kids say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that blacks, dwarfs, an albino, and a nursing mother are all vehicles for crass jokes. There are many mature themes: infidelity, divorce, police corruption, murder, and a serious bipolar disorder. There are near-constant spewings of extreme, gratuitous profanity, much of it sex-related. Even a skip-roping little girl screams "f--k off." Just about every character in every scene behaves questionably. There are graphic discussions about sex, with much waving around of a sex toy. A few nude rears (one with a chicken sticking out of it) and a mostly nude breast. A lot of punching and shooting. Hank insults and terrorizes people, causes bodily harm, and destroys property. Charlie repeatedly shoots a cow that appears near dead. Irene's ex-boyfriend shoots Charlie's thumb.

  • Blacks, dwarfs, an albino, and a nursing mother are all vehicles for crass jokes. Countless offensive gags and jokes.
  • A lot of punching and shooting. Hank insults and terrorizes people, causes bodily harm, and destroys property. Charlie repeatedly shoots a cow that appears near dead. Irene's ex-boyfriend shoots Charlie's thumb off.
  • Graphic discussions about sex, with much waving around of a sex toy. A few nude rears (one with a chicken sticking out of it) and a mostly nude breast.

What's the story?

After years of internalizing his frustrations, state trooper Charlie (Jim Carrey) has developed an alter ego: Hank, a police officer who is abusive and violent, and Charlie struggles to keep Hank under control. Assigned to escort Irene (Renee Zellweger) to New York for questioning, Charlie and Hank compete over her -- for very different reasons.


Is it any good?

 

Purveyors of crass gags and toilet humor have no trouble attracting moviegoers, especially when Jim Carrey's delivering the laughs. But co-directors and writers Bobby and Peter Farrelly suggest with their follow-up to the successful There's Something About Mary that they may well have hit a brick wall. Mary offered likable oddball characters and even a bit of dramatic tension amidst its outrageous laughs. In comparison, ME, MYSELF & IRENE resembles an Airplane-like parody of a Farrelly brothers movie. Rather than veer from their established romantic comedy formula, they've recycled elements of their own earlier movies -- most notably Dumb and Dumber, which also starred Carrey -- and turn the vulgarity and the political incorrectness up to damaging proportions. Carrey gives the elastic performance one expects from him, but seeing him hold a little girl's head underwater and squat, pants down, on a neighbor's lawn, elicits far more groans than laughs.

The production looks like it was made several years ago, then improperly stored until a willing distributor could be found. Amidst the washed-out cinematography, the bodily waste humor, and the free-flowing obscenity, Renée Zellweger -- who ably starred alongside Meryl Streep and William Hurt in One True Thing -- is sadly out of place. A 17-year-old Steve Martin fan who saw similarities in this movie to The Jerk and All of Me found it unnecessarily crude and mean-spirited, but got her money's worth of laughs out of it. See at your own risk.


Sign Up Message
Sign up for our weekly newsletter
Each week we send a customized newsletter to our parent and teen subscribers. Parents can customize their settings to receive recommendations and parent tips based on their kids’ ages. Teens receive a version just for them with the latest reviews and top picks for movies, video games, apps, music, books, and more.
Please enter an email address.
Please check your email address for possible typos.
Sorry, you must be 13 or older to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Sign me up!

What families can talk about

Families can talk about the appeal of this movie and the whole gross-out genre. Do you think these extremely flawed characters are funny? Were there parts of the film you found more offensive than funny? Would you seek out other movies like this or stick to lighter comedy fare?


This review was written by Scott G. Mignola
Teen, 16 years old
August 23, 2010
 
Really filthy
Even the TV version to this film is quite disgusting, and a step down for Carrey, though many times it made me burst out in laughter. Definitely no kids.

Flag as inappropriate 
Teen, 17 years old
November 11, 2011
 
funny
Great funny movie. My rating: Pevasive sexual content,some comic violence, and pervasive language.

Flag as inappropriate 
Teen, 14 years old
October 3, 2011
 
Me, Myself and Irene
Funny movie, but not for young kids. 15+

Flag as inappropriate 
Teen, 16 years old
August 2, 2010
 
The movie is really funny! They make it sound really violent, but it isn't bad at all and the "bad messages" are comedic not offensive in any way. The only part of the movie I found slightly off-putting was the nursing mother [you'd have to watch it to understand why]. The cow part was hilarious! Even as a vegan, I found it funny The nudity isn't bad, just a man's rear end with a chicken sticking out I'd say it's not for younger children, but for older kids its fine.

Flag as inappropriate 
Teen, 16 years old
March 21, 2010
 
Great film
The movie is f***king funny as! I loved this film, everyone form hardcore Carrey fans to general movie fans will love this. The language is a bit much for younger teens and kids but still an incredibly awesome film!

Flag as inappropriate 
Kid, 11 years old
February 3, 2012
 
funny
This movie is funny but it is really not for kids

Flag as inappropriate 
Teen, 15 years old
January 6, 2012
 
16+
great flick, not for most kids

Flag as inappropriate 

This review was written by Scott G. Mignola
Studio:Twentieth Century Fox
Director:Bobby Farrelly
Cast:Anthony Anderson, Jim Carrey, Renee Zellweger
Genre:Comedy
Run time:116 minutes
Theatrical release date:June 23, 2000
DVD release date:June 4, 2002
MPAA rating:R
MPAA explanation:sexual content, crude humor, strong language and some violence

This review was written by Scott G. Mignola
 

Review It

Share your review with others

Hang on! You need to be a member to post your review.
A safe community is important to us. Please observe our guidelines.
About our rating system
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.
Learning ratings
BEST: Really engaging, great learning approach.
GOOD: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
FAIR: Somewhat engaging, OK learning approach.
NOT FOR LEARNING: Not recommended for learning.

Great alternatives handpicked by our editors

 

vote now

Will you see Me, Myself & Irene?


Already seen it? What do you think?

 

Been There? Tell us about it