BOBBY and Peter Farrelly's Me, Myself & Irene has left a bad taste in the mouths of many who have seen it Stateside.

The comedy dresses itself up like a sweet and hopeless romantic who believes in love at first sight, but who behaves as a filthy-minded schoolboy, sniggering at the merest mention of sex.

In his latest film role, Jim Carrey plays Charlie Baileygates, a Rhode Island state trooper whose competing personalities fall in love with the same woman (Carrey's real-life girlfriend Rene Zellweger). One side of him is a mild-mannered family man, the other lecherous and short-tempered.

You see, Charlie suffers from split personality disorder.

If he fails to take his medication every four hours, he will slowly lose his grasp on reality and his sadistic alter-ego Hank will take control.

Hank is the complete opposite of Charlie: ultra-confident, aggressive and unafraid to shoot first and ask questions later.

The film is a politically incorrect reworking of Jekyll & Hyde which leaves no stone unturned in its quest to offend. Even the promotional material for the film for the film has provoked outrage, pushing the film with the line "from gentle to mental".

The mental health lobby in America haven't been happy with the film making a comedy out of schizophrenia, but Carrey is unrepentant.

I just like to do comedy. You can't ask for acceptance across the board. If you're going to go out there and take risks, you're upsetting someone," he has said.

You have to be brave enough to push the buttons. The ones that everybody says 'no way, that's sacred ground. We cannot go there!'.

The rubber-faced Carrey is perfectly suited to the dual roles of good cop-bad cop, tearing about the screen like some demented comedy whirlwind.

But the Farrellys are so intent on out-grossing their previous efforts (Dumb & Dumber, There's Something About Mary), they all but forget to develop the characters of Charlie and Irene.