Me, Myself And Irene

Don't forget Irene. She's great. Me and Myself are something else, but the girl is no airhead. Last seen as the sweetly innocent Nurse Betty, Renee Zellweger transforms herself into a sexy, street smart, Texan New Yorker.

Me is Charlie. He's been riding a Harley for the Rhode Island police force for 17 years. He's too nice to be a cop. No one takes him seriously. When he tells a cute seven-year-old that skipping her rope in the middle of the street is not advisable, she shouts back: "My dad says you're a joke and I don't have to listen to you."

Myself is Hank. He would have drowned the kid in the fountain. He likes to be mean, he needs to be hard. The truth is, he can't help it. He's so angry, all human life is in danger.

Charlie and Hank are the same person. It took a while for Hank to make an appearance. When bad things happened to Charlie, he bottled them. When his wife ran off with an African American dwarf, he stood there numb. When his three black triplets grew up into fat, foul-mouthed teenagers, with good brains and ghetto manners, he loved them just the same.

One day, he snapped. Charlie never snapped. People treated him like a poodle toy, humiliated the hell out of him, ignored his orders and let their hound dog crap on his lawn. When he snapped, Hank was there. Things changed.

What about Irene? She arrived first, arrested for some misdemeanour, wanted back home in New York State for a vehicle offence. Charlie is asked to escort her, which he does, and then the Mob try to kill her for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and the FBI are involved and some of them are corrupt, which means you can't tell the good guys from the bad guys, except everyone has guns.

The Farrelly Brothers are known for pushing taste to the edge of the cess pool. There's Something About Mary shocked thousands and delighted millions. Their humour tends to be sexual, lavatorial and crude. Their ability to go into underpants for jokes is hugely appreciated by liberal-minded students, who think farts are freedom.

Jim Carrey is not only the finest physical comedian of the age, but an underrated actor. The last time he worked with The Farrellys was in their debut, Dumb And Dumber. This is more sophisticated, which is not saying much, but for Carrey a considerable challenge. He pulls it off superbly. In fact, the scene when Charlie and Hank are fighting each other in one body is a lesson in comic timing.

The film is patchy. The funny parts are inspired. Others, including the cow sequence, fall flat. What lifts it above the level of Dumb and Mary is Carrey's performance and Zellweger's presence.