Jim Carrey Movie Draws Ire

By Stephen M. Silverman

09/07/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Jim Carrey's new movie, "Me, Myself & Irene" may not open until June 23, but it is already being criticized in some quarters. The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) said it is launching a "national protest" against the comedy, which in its storyline shows "gross ignorance and insensitivity" to people with mental illnesses and their families, the NAMI told Variety. In the film, Carrey plays a man whose two split personalities fall in love with the same woman, Renée Zellweger's Irene. The movie is played for laughs, and is the product of brothers Bobby and Peter Farrelly, known for the less-than-subtle "Dumb & Dumber" and "There's Something About Mary." NAMI says the new movie "perpetuates a myth that schizophrenia -- a severe, biologically based brain disorder -- is a split personality." Carrey's rep had no comment.