It has been two years since the film “There's Something About Mary” filled movie theaters around the world with hysterical laughter.

Since then, the Farelly Brothers produced a film based on Peter Farrelly's novel “Outside Providence” and worked on bringing their 1990 screenplay “Me, Myself and Irene” to the silver screen. The wait is over and, boy, was it worth it.

Jim Carrey stars as Charlie Baileygates, a state trooper with the Rhode Island State Patrol and an all-around nice guy. Too nice if you ask any of his friends. Charlie's wife left him nine months after they were married and left him with three children from an affair. Over the next 18 years, Charlie raises the boys and goes about his life never acknowledging the pain that has been inflicted and avoiding all forms of confrontation.

The resentment eventally boils over and out pops Hank, a split personality of Charlie's that thrives on confrontation and is an all-around tough guy. Add a plot involving dirty cops and a damsel in distress to this story of a man with a serious identity crisis and you get what is most likely the funniest film of the summer.

The jokes come from all angles from the first second of the film and are told with a good-natured spirit that has become the Farelly brothers' calling card. They deal with touchy and often bawdy subjects, but the heart remains and keeps films like “Mary” and “Irene” afloat.

It also helps to have Jim Carrey as a major backer. Many studios passed on “Dumb and Dumber” until Carrey agreed to make it. After that, the Farrellys practically wrote their own ticket and knew they had to get Carrey for the role of Charlie/Hank. He is wonderful, by the way. Balancing his amazing talent for physical comedy (the best ever?) with the sweetness that endeared him to audiences in “The Mask,” “The Truman Show” and “Man on the Moon.”

The plot is not all that important and the surrounding cast, including Robert Forster, Chris Cooper and Rene Zellweger, are terrific. The show is stolen, though, by the three young men who play Carrey's sons, but that is all that can be said without spoiling any of the surprises. The film is rated R and deservedly so. There are profanity and adult themes, but as long as you are an adult, you should enjoy this film.

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