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"ME MYSELF I"
(2000) (Rachel Griffiths, David Roberts) (R)

Alcohol/
Drugs
Blood/Gore Disrespectful/
Bad Attitude
Frightening/
Tense Scenes
Guns/
Weapons
Moderate Minor Moderate None None
Imitative
Behavior
Jump
Scenes
Music
(Scary/Tense)
Music
(Inappropriate)
Profanity
Mild None None Minor Heavy
Sex/
Nudity
Smoking Tense Family
Scenes
Topics To
Talk About
Violence
Heavy Mild Mild Moderate Mild


QUICK TAKE:
Romantic Comedy: A single woman finds out what life would have been like had she married the love of her life years ago and had children as a twist of fate suddenly has her living that life.
PLOT:
Pamela Drury (RACHEL GRIFFITHS) is a single, thirty-something writer whose many accolades and awards can't make up for the fact that she's unhappy and still wonders what her life had been like had she stayed with Robert Dickson (DAVID ROBERTS), a successful architect she hasn't been involved with for more than a dozen years.

Despite that successful and rewarding career, Pamela feels that she's wasted her life and is jealous of seeing just how happy her friend and mom, Terri (REBECCA FRITH), is with her life and family. Even when she meets someone she thinks she could be happy with, in this case Ben (SANDY WINTON), a high school counselor, she discovers that he has a wife and kids.

Even so, she gets the chance to see whether life is greener on the other side of the fence when an odd occurrence has her meet herself during a run-in with a car driven by her doppelganger. Dazed and returning with Pamela Two to her suburban home, Pamela thinks that she's dreaming of being married to Robert and mother to his three kids, teenager Stacey (YAEL STONE), her younger obnoxious brother, Douglas (SHAUN LOSEBY), and the still being potty-trained Rupert (TRENT SULLIVAN).

When Pamela Two suddenly disappears, however, Pamela realizes she must play the part of herself had her life turned out this way. As such, she must figure out the daily routines of this new, other life, as well as her job as a contributing writer for Now Woman Magazine writing "how to keep him satisfied" articles for her pushy boss, Deirdre (CHRISTINE STEPHEN-DALY).

As she realizes that her dream life isn't all that it's cut out to be, and has various run-ins with people from her "other" life, including Ben and married friends Geoff (FELIX WILLIAMSON) and Janine (ANN BURBROOK), all who think she's Pamela Two, Pamela must come to grips with the facets of her new life and try to make everything right once again.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?
Unless they're fans of someone in the cast, it's not very likely.
WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R
For sexuality and some language.
CAST AS ROLE MODELS:
  • RACHEL GRIFFITHS plays a single, thirty-something woman who thinks that life - and her opportunity for a marriage and children - has passed her by (and nearly takes her own life due to that). She gets a second chance when she suddenly finds herself married to the man she always believed she should have kept and has marital sex with him as if he were a new lover (which he somewhat is). She also sleeps with another man (making it hard to say whether she's really cheating on her husband since she's replaced the real wife and other version of herself), uses some strong profanity and drinks and smokes some.
  • DAVID ROBERTS plays her husband, a man who's succumbed to the everyday banality of marriage (and evidently previous affairs), but finds his passion for marriage and his wife rekindled with the behavior of his "new" wife.
  • SANDY WINTON plays the "other man" in Pamela's wife who's interested in her in both realities and sleeps with her in one of them.
  • YAEL STONE plays Pamela's sardonic teenage daughter.
  • SHAUN LOSEBY plays a typical pre-pubescent boy who has a thing for insulting his mother.
  • TRENT SULLIVAN plays the youngest of the kids who's just finishing his potty training.
  • REBECCA FRITH plays Pamela's close friend.
  • FELIX WILLIAMSON plays another friend who's apparently having an affair with Pamela in this new reality.
  • CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

    HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE


    Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
    Then read OUR TAKE of this film.


    (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).


    OUR WORD TO PARENTS:
    The following is a brief summary of the content found in this romantic comedy that gets its R rating for sexual material and profanity. The former consists of several sexual encounters (some seen, one occurring under the covers and another occurring off camera) that include related sounds, some nudity and implied oral sex. Other moments include a woman watching a porno tape with related sounds and some movement, her efforts to insert a diaphragm, and brief views of a scantily clad male stripper.

    Profanity consists of at least 3 use of the "f" word, while other profanities and colorful phrases are also present. Some bad attitudes and tense family moments occur and stem from extramarital affairs, while various characters also drink and smoke. Some brief scatological material is included, a character nearly commits suicide via a hairdryer in the bathtub and some brief violence also occurs.

    Beyond that, the film's remaining categories have little or nothing in the way of major objectionable content. Nonetheless, should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may wish to take a closer look at our more detailed content listings.


    ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE
  • Pamela drinks straight from a bottle of liquor while depressed.
  • We see an empty bottle of liquor next to Pamela while she's in the bathtub.
  • Pamela and Robert have wine with another couple at the latter's house. Later, some champagne is poured and the husband, Geoff, seems a little drunk.
  • Pamela drinks wine while cooking dinner and then she and Robert have wine with dinner.
  • After having sex with Pamela, Ben walks back into the bedroom with some wine, but she's left.
  • Pamela and Robert have wine with another couple.
  • People have wine in a restaurant.
  • BLOOD/GORE
  • After little Rupert tells Pamela that he has to go to the bathroom, we see him urinating into and onto the toilet (we see the stream). He then tells her that he's not done and we then see him sitting on the toilet (and Pamela learns that he hasn't learned to wipe himself yet, so she must do it - not seen). Later, we see her wiping his rear (but nothing graphic).
  • We hear Robert urinating in the bathroom.
  • There are some comments and family members reacting to Douglas farting in the car.
  • DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE
  • Having a bad day (and life), Pamela is rude to a survey taker on the street.
  • Douglas calls his mother "dumb head" and "dummy" until she tells him to stop.
  • Robert is somewhat patronizing to Pamela about her job and wanting to get a new computer.
  • Although this Pamela is not really Robert's real wife, she does go off and have an affair with Ben (she feels guilty, however, and quickly leaves).
  • While doing the laundry, Pamela discovers a condom (still in the wrapper) in Robert's pants. When she confronts him about this, he denies having an affair now, but does state that he had them in the past (and that she knows about that, although our Pamela doesn't).
  • Pamela learns that her other self and Geoff are apparently having an affair.
  • FRIGHTENING SCENES
  • None.
  • GUNS/WEAPONS
  • None.
  • IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR
  • Phrases: "Bonking" (sexual), "D*ck head," "Pain in the butt," "Freaks," "Social retards," "Bastard," "Piss off," "Dumb head," "Dummy," "Balls" (testicles), "Sucks," "Crappy" and "Where the hell have you been?"
  • We see a kid with a pierced eyebrow, another woman with a pierced lip, and the front of Stacey's hair is dyed a different color from the rest.
  • Despondent over her life, Pamela stands in her bathtub and slowly lowers her plugged-in hairdryer toward the water, ready to kill herself (the power goes out and stops anything from happening, but she does then drop the hairdryer into the water).
  • JUMP SCENES
  • None.
  • MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE)
  • None.
  • MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE)
  • A song has the lyrics, "Making love was just for fun."
  • PROFANITY
  • At least 3 "f" words (1 used sexually as is the word "bonking"), 9 "s" words, 2 slang terms using male genitals ("d*ck" and "pr*ck"), 4 craps, 2 damns, 2 hells, 5 uses of "Oh my God," 4 each of "God" and "Oh God," 3 of "My God," 2 each of "Oh Jesus" and "Oh Christ" and 1 use each of "Christ" and "Jesus" as exclamations.
  • SEX/NUDITY
  • For her birthday, Pamela's coworkers have hired a male stripper who gets up on her desk and dances around for her in small, leopard skin shorts that he then pulls off to reveal a thong (we see the bulge in the front along with most of his bare butt in the rear).
  • We briefly see Pamela in her bra as she gets dressed and then see abundant amounts of cleavage in her low-cut dress, especially when she's bent over and we can see right down the front of it. As she goes through the contents of her bag, we see that she has a condom (still in its wrapper).
  • We hear sexual sounds after Pamela's date and presume it's her and her date (especially when we see some scattered apparel on the floor), but then see that she's watching some sort of porno tape (that only shows a woman from the top of her chest up, rhythmically moving up and down and making sexual sounds).
  • We see Pamela's bare butt as she stands in her bathtub.
  • Stacey asks Pamela if someone (meaning her) hasn't had her period yet, do they need to use a condom to have sex.
  • Pamela shows more cleavage as she gets ready to go out.
  • While looking through her other self's medicine cabinet, Pamela asks "herself" if she hasn't ever heard of safe sex. She then discovers a diaphragm and lubricant and then awkwardly tries to insert it without knowing the exact way to do so (we see the diaphragm and her putting lubricant/spermicide on it). We then see her standing with her legs spread and her panties around her ankles, trying to insert it (all we see are her gyrations and her hand disappearing up underneath her dress). Moments later, and all played for laughs, we see her lying on the floor (with her feet propped up on the side of the bathtub) still trying to insert it (with her hands under her dress). We then see the diaphragm fly across the room and land in the toilet. Undeterred, she then gets in bed with Robert and tries to kiss him, but he's sound asleep and snoring.
  • The next morning, she rolls over to hug him and her hand apparently feels his erection (her hand is above the sheet, the erection below it). She then smiles and lifts up the sheet for a better look but the alarm goes off.
  • We see Pamela trying the diaphragm again and then walking around in a weird fashion due to the feel of it. Later, she's in bed and we see brief glimpses of Robert's bare butt as he walks back and forth in front of the bed (and the foreground of the shot). They eventually get around to some passionate kissing in bed, she climbs on top of him (in her bedclothes) and he's somewhat surprised at how passionate she's is (she's this way since she hasn't been with him in years). She then moves down his body and out of the camera shot, but apparently gives him oral sex due to the pleasured expression on his face (played for laughs more than eroticism).
  • We then hear sexual sounds and see the mattress moving. We then see just the bottom of her legs up in the air and then see Pamela and Robert sitting upright having sex (seen from the side as well as in a mirror where Pamela looks at the two of them - we see his bare back, the top of his bare butt, and her legs spread around him, along with related movement).
  • Pamela and Robert have sex again, but this time completely under the sheets (we see ambiguous movement under the sheets and hear sexual sounds). They're interrupted by a call (she lies and says its her editor) and Robert then asks why she didn't just tell her that they were "bonking."
  • We see some anatomical drawing on some tampon instructions for how to insert them as Stacey gets her period. When Stacey has a hard time using them, Pamela tells her that she'll just have to feel her way.
  • Pamela and Ben make out and we then see both of them lying face down and nude on the bed, with him partially on top of her (we see both of their bare butts), apparently after sex.
  • While doing the laundry, Pamela discovers a condom (still in the wrapper) in Robert's pants. When she confronts him about this, she asks, "You're actually f*cking the babysitter?" He's not, however.
  • SMOKING
  • Pamela smokes several times, while Robert takes a drag from one of her cigarettes, and a miscellaneous character smokes.
  • TENSE FAMILY SCENES
  • Pamela and Robert realize they're traveling down some rocky roads (particularly when she learns that he is having/had affairs and that her other self has been having one with Geoff).
  • Geoff states that he's leaving his wife for Pamela.
  • A man states that he's divorced and has joint custody of his kids.
  • TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT
  • The notion that the grass is greener anywhere but where one currently is.
  • Despondent over her life, Pamela stands in her bathtub and slowly lowers her plugged-in hairdryer toward the water, ready to kill herself (but the power goes out and that receives laughs, thus lessening the impact of what she nearly does to herself).
  • VIOLENCE
  • Although we don't see the impact and it may not have happened at all, a car apparently hits Pamela, knocking her semi-conscious to the street (we only see her afterwards).
  • Trying to wake herself up from what she thinks is a dream, Pamela repeatedly bangs her head against a wall.
  • When Geoff won't leave her alone, Pamela hits and knees him several times, at least once in the crotch that sends him doubled over to the floor in pain.



  • Reviewed April 19, 2000 / Posted April 28, 2000

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