Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (June 27, 2000)
^MDS Harris Together, Wi'ra Making Lives Better 621 Rose Street, Uncoln - _www.mqsnams.com/rcrvrecruix.nim ■ppvHHin W 111 iIIBIIIIbIIIIiIIB^^ II j|ii|i||^ m w M M m Jr a Mjf W CT! JEWELERS 12 A O St. Gateway Mall www.sartorhamann.com JIM CASKEY plays a schizsphreaie pallet afficar tryiag ta wee es-star Raaaa Zellweger ia thellatest Family Brothers eaawdy, “Ms Mysalf aad Irate.” The Ska alse stars Aatheay Aadersea, Jared Mixta aad Maaga irtwalee (abase, left ta right) as Charlie1* (Jha Canty) grewa seas. Carrey’s persona distracts in ‘Irene’ By Samuel McKewon Senior editor When “There’s Something About Mary” arrived in theaters, the force with which it impacted die comedy genre could not have been anticipated. The Farrelly Brothers, Peter and Bobby,^ changed the way the funny game is played, so to speak. It’s often thought this was accomplished with gross-out gags. In fact, the film simply took the established humor first displayed in affairs like the seminal “The Kentucky Fried Movie” one step further into mainstream. And so “Mary” tinged off a bevy of copycats, none of which ever reached the comic inspira tion and whimsy that was at the heart of that film^s musical narra tion. The Farrelly Brothers had an incisive hit, complete with the ■ ■ ' " .. comic manifestation of man’s ultimate dream in the form of a woman, the title character. I suspect their latest effort, “Me, Myself, and Irene” is a riff on that same notion, though any film that includes Jim Carrey has to push his female cohort to the side. Like “Mary,” there’s riffs on several aspects of the world at play in their newest comedy. Somehow, the central story gets lost because the periphery is so cluttered. And well, there’s Jim Carrey. Understand that Carrey is something almost otherworldy in his comic ability. The plastic physicality he reaches in “Me, Myself and Irene” is of epic pro portions. He portrays a split per sonality in Charlie and Hank Baileygates. Charley is a kindly Rhode Island highway patrol man. Hank is a fed-up version of Charley who has been created to fend off some of Charlie’s life disappointments. .Thosedisappointments are far.ranpmp Kut they track mostly back tahisiirst wife. She left him fori bleeFMensa dwarf, leaving behind three genius boys (with strangely profane mouths) for Charlie to raise. It works for awhile, and the three boys might be the best thing abouMhe movie. But this plot device, like the entire movie, grates after a while. Meanwhile, Irene, played by Renee Zellweger, arrives and changes everything, not unlike Cameron Diaz’s “Mary.” But unlike Diaz, Zellweger, who pos sesses comparable comic instincts, is relegated to watching Carrey. So is everyone else in this movie that succeeds.or fails Please see IRENE on 8 _ JULY JAMM 2000 JULY 27-29 <&zm IM 9k N Streets Downtown Lincoln, Nl V i si