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Review: 'Me Myself I' a fluffy, forgettable fantasy
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(CNN) -- Rachel Griffiths is probably best known in the United States for her Oscar-nominated performance in 1998's "Hilary and Jackie," a movie that wore multiple sclerosis and clinical depression on its tattered sleeve. So it's surprising to see her negotiate the redundant, altogether mundane fantasy that comprises her new film, "Me Myself I."
This isn't the first time Griffiths has appeared in a romance. "My Son the Fanatic" was one of 1998's most enjoyable movies, and she was terrific in it. But that story's passion rises from a place that has little to do with easily marketable cuteness.
"Me Myself I," is an unapologetic piece of fluff that cries out for an equally fluffy human being at its center, someone on the order of Jenna Elfman or Jennifer Aniston. Then again, Julia Roberts at her most hyper-spirited couldn't breathe life into such a humdrum screenplay.
A lonely career woman
Written and directed by Pip Karmel, this is a pedestrian "what if" comedy in which a lonely woman discovers what her life would have been like had she married the man that she broke up with 13 years earlier. Griffiths plays Pam Drury, a successful magazine writer with no husband, no kids and no prospects. The opening scenes are a virtual checklist of generic movie longing. There are so many second-hand gestures, you find yourself giggling at the blatant thievery.
Though close to miserable, Pam graciously deals with her oblivious co-workers, is surprised by a male stripper on her birthday, complains to her friends about her inability to find a lover, recounts tales of former near-happiness, goes on a blind date with a preposterously unappealing man, etc.
Commercial screenwriters include familiar moments to establish a tone and spoon feed the central character to lazier audience members. That's almost the point of a genre picture these days, and there's nothing wrong with it -- in moderation.
But this stuff is so far above the call of duty, you have to suspect that Karmel is lifting scenes simply because she can't think of anything else.
If this looks familiar ...
A trick plot device eventually kicks into gear, one that would be unique if it weren't basically lifted from "Sliding Doors," (1998) the far more successful Gwyneth Paltrow vehicle. One day, Pam is struck by a car while crossing the street and wakes up to find herself standing in a comfortable suburban home with … herself. As is usually the case when people get run over by speeding vehicles, she's ended up in a sort of alternate universe where she's married to her former flame (David Roberts) and has three insufferable children running around.
It turns out that the "other" Pam (the one who's been married all these years) wants to see what things would have been like had she not gotten hitched.
So Pam trades places with herself. Now the Pam that we've come to know and (almost) like is thrust into an insane world where lunchboxes have to be packed, feminine hygiene products have to be explained to little girls and little boys need someone to wipe their tushies after they've made pooh-pooh.
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Mrs. Mom
You can now unfasten your seat belt. The resulting turbulence is nothing more than a cross between "Mr. Mom," (1983) with the inept parent being a woman this time around, and an especially tiresome Erma Bombeck essay.
Pam never seems particularly frazzled by her predicament. She adapts quite readily to raising the kids, and gets by with nothing more than a few silent nods when she's forced to pretend to that she's intimately acquainted with the total strangers who've come to her birthday party.
At one point, Karmel toys with having Pam fall into an affair with a former flame, but it's a borderline dumb idea that only serves to confuse things, and the story's not all that focused to begin with. At least it gets dropped pretty quickly.
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The only conceivable reason to watch "Me Myself I" is to see Griffiths pull off some unexpectedly inventive moments of physical comedy. Chief among them is a Chuck Berry duck walk that she secretly performs while trying to get used to a recently inserted birth control device.
Funny stuff, to be sure, but hardly worth the price of a movie ticket.
"Me Myself I" contains sex, bad language, and other things that you've seen a thousand times before. Rated R. 104 minutes, although they could have trimmed 75 minutes off without ruining anything.
RELATED STORIES:
Don't look back? 'Me Myself I' director living two lives
April 26, 2000
Review: Two faces to pain in 'Hilary and Jackie'
January 15, 1999
'Hilary and Jackie' chronicles a close-knit family relationship
January 6, 1999
RELATED SITES:
Sony Pictures Classics
Official 'Me Myself I' site
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