ME MYSELF I (2000) **1/2 Rachel Griffiths, David Roberts, Sandy Winton, Yael Stone, Shaun Loseby, Trent Sullivan. (Dir: Pip Karmel) Rachel Griffiths has always struck me as a lankier, sexier déjà vu of Juliette Lewis, but with more sublimity than her American compatriot. The Australian actress who received a Best Supporting Actress nomination in 1998 for 'Hilary and Jackie' has always been interesting to observe onscreen since I first noticed her in the indie surprise hit 'Muriel's Wedding'. Here she gets to be funny and succeeds more often than the film itself.
Griffiths stars as Pamela, a self-observed Type A writer for a woman's magazine that is always on the go and busy even on her birthday which proves to be a hindrance than a blessed event when she begins to sink into suicidal depression over the latest break up in a string of faceless, nameless lovers with no satisfying reason to continue her breakneck freestyling life. After several hilarious half-hearted attempts to do herself in (including the gradual lowering of a hair drier into her bubble bath) her wish comes true when she is knocked unconscious after walking into oncoming traffic. When she awakens she isn't herself but instead her fantasy self a married woman with three children wed to her high school crush Robert (Roberts) and finds the sudden change to be challenging but in the end rewarding.
Along the way she comes across sexy Ben (Winton) from her previous existence again and must decide on being a stay at home writer or a freestyling single with an active sex life.
Throughout Griffiths is winning as the new found mother juggling her tykes, writing and her husband all experiencing a new and improving person as well. But the film's familiarity from 'It's A Wonderful Life' to the Gwyneth Paltrow flick 'Sliding Doors' ends up derailing the storyline altogether even if it is presented with a lot of energy.
