Sleeping with the enemy. Schizophrenic Rhode Island State Trooper Charlie (Carrey) falls for a woman on the wrong side of the law (Zellweger)...
Charlie (Carrey) is a Rhode Island State Trooper who has suppressed his emotions ever since his wife (Howard) ran off with a black midget (Cox), leaving him to raise their (black) triplets on his own. Then 18 years later nice guy Charlie finally snaps under the pressure and out comes the thuggish Hank. With medication to keep schizophrenia under control, the boss (Forster) sees no problem in letting Charlie escort a lovely prisoner Irene (Zellweger) to upstate New York. But Charlie forgets his medicine and soon he and Irene are running from crooked cops (Cooper and Jenkins) and old boyfriends (Greene) ... all the while falling in love and wondering when Hank will make another Incredible Hulk-like appearance.
As with previous Farrelly films, the romance is quite sweet, but unlike Mary there's nothing to back it up. The comedy (much of which is, no surprise, very crude) is hit and miss, with only the rare moment of laugh-out-loud wackiness. The un-PC jokes seem tacked on just for the sake of it, not because they're funny (they aren't). And with the exception of the triplets (Anderson, Brownlee, Dixon) and perhaps an albino waiter (Bownman), none of the supporting characters ever amounts to anything. Carrey's performance is surprisingly good, reaffirming his progress as an actor as he adds intrigue to the character and plays the Charlie/Hank shift with a deft nuance he hadn't yet discovered in his Dumb & Dumber days. Zellweger doesn't get much to do really--she's very watchable, but it's the kind of role anyone could've played. The biggest surprise, though, is the film's complete and utter joylessness. It's a real drag from start to finish, and for an anarchic rom-com that's a real problem!
[15--vulgarity, language, violence, themes] 17.Jul.00
US release 23.Jun.00; UK release 22.Sep.00
"This movie has been making a lot of news; I have read that the mental health industry is upset at this movie making fun of Carrey's impersonation of a schizophrenic. But we went anyway - it seems that a lot of movies can get some group or other upset about something. They need to remember it is a movie - for entertainment purposes, and fun! Jim plays Charlie, a Rhode Island policeman - and 18 years earlier he had it all, including a lovely bride, the town's beauty queen, who managed to give birth to black triplets. Charlie ignored this, as he did all stressful situations, keeping the anger inside and smiling at everyone. His 3 sons are the apples of his eye. When his wife leaves him for the short black man, he smiles and carries on, like everything is just perfect - while the whole town is laughing at him. Of course, no one can do that for long, and one day the lid blows of the anger and 'Hank' appears. Charlie ends up being diagnosed as a schizophrenic, and must take his medication every 6 hours or Hank re-appears - and Hank is not nice at all. Then a strange girl in town, Irene (Zellweger), needs escorting back to upstate New York, so who do they pick? Charlie, of course, and the fun begins. I really enjoyed this movie - Carrey was awesome playing both parts, and you could tell by his eyes when Hank was coming out! It was a lot of laughs, and I feel that Carrey's acting is getting better, even though I have yet to see Man on the Moon - will have to rent it soon. There is some bathroom humor, and Hank pretends he is Charlie for a night of fun and frolicking with Irene - and she gets really mad about that! This movie was fun - see it if you can!" --Laurie T, Minneapolis.
