Hey, Everyone. "Moriarty" here. Harry's in transit right now, somewhere over the Southwest, and he's asked me to post this review ASAP. Considering it's the first review I've seen anywhere for the new Farrelly Bros. film, the first Jim Carrey comedy in a while, we figured this was something you'd want to see quickly. Sounds like Segue had a great time, even if he does have a few problems. Don't take my word for it. Here's the spy with the name no one quite understands, to preach it in his own special way.
Head Geek,
This is Segue Zagnut.
More to the point, I saw ME, MYSELF, & IRENE tonight. Jim Carrey, Renee Zellweger, Chris Cooper, and Robert Forster star in a Farrelly brother directed film. As it stands the movie is hilarious, but flawed. Classic new twists on sick Farrelly brother humor abound. From Carrey trying to piss with morning wood to Zellweger and Carrey spending five minutes trying to put a road kill out of its misery, the Farrellys make comic genius out of their disturbing sense of humor. I loved it and would see it again tomorrow, but it is not all roses.
Can't these guys write a real story and still be funny? The premise is solid enough. Jim Carrey plays a small state cop, who after being pushed around for years by everyone who meets him, develops a split personality that does what he REALLY wants. If a kid tells him to 'Fuck Off', Charlie (the push over Carrey) would run away hurt… but Hank ( bad ass Carrey) tries to drown the kid in a local fountain. You get the idea and it is constantly funny. After Zellweger gets picked up by local cops for a faked hit and run, Carrey has to take her to New York to face trail. That's both where the story line begins and, as far as I can tell, also where it ends… because nothing else really makes sense from there.
Something About Mary, Dumb and Dumber never pretended to have much story each sticking to simple concepts and that was fine. Outside Providence, although still a little too formula, made sense with real story and character arches, but wasn't that funny. I think someday we will get a Raising Arizona or Big Lebowski type classic out of these guys, but this isn't the movie that will prove it. This movie gets so lost in funny situations, it feels like they gave up trying to make the story make sense. Chris Cooper and Robert Forster are wasted in bit parts that are worthless. I don't even know what kind of cop Cooper's character was… FBI? State? Was he even really a cop? Forster had more screen time in Armageddon and he wasn't even in it. Don't get me wrong. I laughed through the entire film. But with the Farrelly's talent they could shoot higher then just non stop laughs.
Carrey is great. He makes the movie. I know, big surprise. Carrey plays it sort of a cross between Steve Martin's All of Me and his own The Mask. Which also means it's not exactly a 100% original interpretation, but it doesn't matter. The moments where he fights himself or in one scene actually throws himself out of a moving car make up for the occasional glimpses of other performances. Carrey is incredible and it's my dream the academy recognizes his talent finally with a Man on the Moon Oscar.
Zellweger plays a perfect straight man. Not an easy feet in an outrageous comedy like this one. She looks great and not dolled up, playing it understated and with confidence. Interestingly enough, what Carrey and Zellweger's performances miss is chemistry. They click perfect as a comedy team, particularly Zellweger, but romantically it's just not there. It was hard to see the spark that made her like Charlie or Hank that way. It felt more like a buddy film then a romantic comedy. Frankly, it was fine as a buddy film and I don't care if they end up together or not.
With the release date sometime in June (is that right Harry?) they have time to tune this up. This version was almost two hours and it could use a little tweaking. Near the end of the film when Carrey starts talking to himself, the Farrellys or the studio seemed to lack confidence in either Carrey's ability to make the two characters clear or the audiences ability to understand which is which. Too often the camera would cut to another angle for each time the 'other' character spoke. This actually made it a little disorienting and hurt the comedy. Part of what makes it funny is watching Carrey switch. He is supposed to look crazy yelling at himself and if the people in the audience haven't gotten it by then… they will never get it. The directing needs to let Carrey breathe every time he switches, not just the obvious changes at the beginning or the final scene on the bridge. Another problem they could fix is the narration. Why use it? It is horrible and useless from the beginning. The few people that the narration helps will be far out weighed by those of us who hate it.
If you like Jim Carrey or Something About Mary, you will like this film. There were many points I couldn't hear dialogue I was laughing so hard and the road kill scene nearly gave me a seizure. Did I mention the whole film starts with very funny midget? Trust me, this will be a huge comedy this summer. It deserves it, despite its current flaws.
Consider This… Segue Zagnut
