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Me Myself I 2000 |
Review by Jonathan Cornwell |
Directed by Pip Karmel
R, 104 min. (sexuality, some language) |
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Starring: Rachel Griffiths, David Roberts, Sandy Winton, Yael Stone, Shaun Loseby, Trent Sullivan
Producer: Fabien Liron
Screenplay: Pip Karmel
Cinematography: Graeme Lind
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Released: 4/7/00 (Limited) |
Rating:
  (out of ) |
Me Myself I touches on the always fascinating concept of "What if?" as it relates to a thirty-something woman whose career
is at an apex but her personal life at the trough of unrealized love. Director Pip Karmel's attempts to examine this
conundrum through an alternate-universe switch-a-roo is only mildly effective, but a tremendous performance by Rachel
Griffiths keeps the audience involved and ultimately satisfied. Griffiths has been laboring away in unseen independent
films that have garnered her many fans other than the Hollywood target teenage boy. She's best known for her work
in Hilary & Jackie as the sister of a talented by flawed musician, for which she was nominated for an Oscar.
Here, she fully inhabits a character who faces the always popular "grass is greener" scenario.
Pam Drury (Griffiths) loves her job as a magazine writer but wonders what life would be like if she had accepted a marriage
proposal from Robert Dixon (David Roberts) years ago. She's given the chance when she is hit by a car and rescued by
her alternate self, who swaps universes with her. Suddenly she's in charge of three children and part of a struggling
marriage that has lost its spark. Of course, she eventually learns to appreciate her new life as she cherishes the family unit
that she's never had. But it can't last forever, and her alternate self will return to reclaim her life sooner or later.
Karmel's treatment of the material is straightforward but uninspired, leaving huge logical gaps in the parallel universe
scenario, often bypassing interesting byproducts of quantum physics. Instead we're left with a retread of familiar territory,
as one person is convinced to appreciate what they have instead of longing for what they don't. It's Griffith's performance
that holds our attention, that entices us to concentrate on her communicative mannerisms.
Griffiths is a unique actor because she can relate intensely personal feeling and thought to the audience without imparting
it to her fellow characters in the film. We feel special because we know her most intimate secrets and travel the storyline
with her as an ally instead of a passive observer. She deserves credit for toiling in obscurity for so long and not being
wholly appreciated by the average moviegoer. In Me Myself I she's the only compelling reason to see the film, one that
eschews logic for warm-hearted contrivances.
© 2000 Jonathan Cornwell
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 | Masterpiece - Film perfection |
| Excellent - A Must See |
| Good - Highly Recommended |
| Fair - Worth seeing |
| Average - Viewable, but not recommended |
| Below average - View at own risk |
| Poor - Avoid at all costs |
| Very poor - An embarassment to the film industry |
| Zero | Awful - One of the worst films ever made |
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