‘Patriot’delivers historical war epic
PATRIOT from page 9
seem a mile wide.
John Williams’ thundering
score contributes to the drama.
Robert Rodat’s screenplay keeps
a good balance between military
and family matters, but most of
the plot turns have a deja vu qual
ity — the stuff of many a
Hollywood war movie or
Western.
The Columbia Pictures
release was produced by Dean
Devlin, Marie Gordon and Gary
Levinsohn. Rated R for violence
and sadism. Running time: 158
minutes.
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JIM CAMEY stare wit* Rsass Zellwsger ia the latest Family Brstfcsrs camdy, “Me Mysstf^lrei^”
carrty plays a schizsphrsaic stats patrslans whs Is tryisg ts wss Zsllwsgsr’s charactsr. StarHag as
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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
the comedy genre could not have
been anticipated. The Farrelly
Brothers, Peter and Bobby,
changed the way die 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 main
stream.
And so Mary tinged off a
bevy of copycats, none of which
ever reached die comic inspiration
and whimsy that was at the heart of
that film’s musical narration. The
Farrelly Brothers had an incisive
hit, complete with the comic mani
festation 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,” thereto riffs on sever
al aspects of the world at play in
their newest comedy. Somehow,
the central story gets lost because
die periphery is so cluttered. And
well, thereto Jim Carrey.
Understand that Carrey is
something almost otherworldy in
his comic ability. The plastic phys
icality he reaches in ‘‘Me, Myself
and Irene” is of epic proportions.
He portrays a split personality in
Charlie and Hank Baileygates.
Charley is a kindly Rhode Island
highway patrolman. Hank is a fed
up version of Charley who has
been created to fend off some of
Charlie’s life disappointments.
Those disappointments are far
ranging, but they track mostly back
to his fust wife. She left him for a
black Metisa dwarf, leaving behind
three genius boys (with strangely
profane mouths) for Charlie to
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raise. It works for awhile, and the
three boys might be die best tiling
about the movie. But this plot
device, like die 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 based on whether
or not Jim Carrey is fimny.
Ana mere are tunes wnen ne s
hilarious, as he has been before and
will be in the future. But the back
ground that made “Mary” and the
Brothers’ underrated “Kingpin” so
rich is lost in die shuffle. And the
jokes that may have scored in
“Mary” die here; they seem out of
place with Carrey’s good nature.
Even when Carrey plays a charac
ter as bad as Hank, he looks too
good for us to hate.
Remember that this was a
problem in “The Cable Guy,”
Carrey’s best performance. The
movie was ultimately an error in
casting, because it worked against
his persona. When he moved dra
matic, his performances in “The
Truman Show” and “Man on the
Moon,” were fine, but absent real
acting. In one movie, he drained all
characterization, in the other, he
played an impersonation.
His presence in “Me, Myself
and Irene” hurts the movie. There
are two kinds of comedy at battle
here. Carrey is broad and likable,
any way you slice it. But he does
have a clear dark streak that con
tributes to his popularity. The
Farrellys go dark all the way.
Unfortunately, die two forces work
against each other here.