NEW YORK -- You get two Jim Carreys for the $20-million price of one in the good-cop-bad-cop Farrelly Brothers comedy Me, Myself & Irene opening June 23.

The former Toronto comic said he was okay with that "actor bargain" during a Manhattan hotel press conference yesterday.

The 38-year-old was also glib about his second Oscar nomination rejection last winter for his Andy Kaufman portrayal in Man On The Moon. The opinionated and mercurial fellow has mellowed into a happy camper. Perhaps love has lots to do with it. "I am a happy person," he told reporters.

So no hard feelings about the Academy snub for Man On The Moon? "They're bastards," Carrey said abruptly, getting a big laugh. "But you know," he added in his confiding voice, "I have to be careful about what I say.

"Okay. Now, please say, 'Jim Carrey's being facetious.'"

He was also being his lovable, wacky self, making fun of himself as often as he did journalists having trouble with questions.

Carrey was more serious when the conversation turned to his sweetie, 30-year-old Renee Zellweger, whom he met on the Me, Myself & Irene set. Both still seem to be in their lovey-dovey phase.

In the film, Carrey plays a Rhode Island state trooper who develops a split personality while wooing a woman (Zellweger) on the run. One Carrey cop is a sap, the other side of him is an evil rascal. Most of the action is in the name of Peter and Bobby Farrelly's farcical screwball fun, similar to a previous Carrey collaboration in Dumb And Dumber and the Carrey-less There's Something About Mary.

Meanwhile, Zellweger will be actress romance take three. Carrey married then divorced Dumb And Dumber co-star Lauren Holly in 1994. He apparently had a fling with Courtney Love while filming Man On The Moon. Love played Kaufman's wife.

Both Farrellys confirmed earlier in the day that Carrey had a crush on Zellweger but that she had a policy of not dating her co-star while filming.

Carrey said that he waited until after the film wrapped before he started his "traditional courtship" of the actress he describes as "a gem of a human being" and "a wonderful actress."

No plans to get hitched, however. "I've never been that girl going, 'One day I'll get married'," said Zellweger, who also denied rumours that Carrey recently gave her an expensive engagement ring.

So did Carrey, who covered non-love topics. He admitted his Andy Kaufman characters "were out of his life forever." He also said that if he had to have another personality besides the Me, Myself one, "it would be just this side of Jesus."

Comedy limits? Carrey wasn't sure if he had any, although he confessed "humiliation" doing one sequence where his bad cop replaces a baby breast feeding in public. "I had to do that in a studio with nobody around."

Other Carrey ons:

Like on fame: "I told my daughter, 'Well, I'm not O. J.' I could be famous for a lot of things."

On why lots of Canadian actors are funny: "Repression," he said. "We're slightly English."

On why lots of Canadians were shut out at this year's Oscars -- like Carrey and Norman Jewison for instance: "I don't subscribe to conspiracy theories."

On his upcoming Grinch role in Ron Howard's How The Grinch Stole Christmas set for a November release: "He's not just an angry guy, he's hurt. He really wants to be invited to the party."

Let Bobby Farrelly comment on Canadian and U.S. mental health organizations complaining about "the harmful and false" impression of schizophrenia Me, Myself & Irene leaves with moviegoers.

"We had a lot of dumb people complaining about Dumb And Dumber, too," he said.


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