Yes Man (2008)

There’s an old saying that goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Why do I get the feeling that Jim Carrey has heard this expression before? Maybe it’s because his latest film, Yes Man, falls back on the same tired shtick that the actor has been milking for years.

Carrey plays Carl, a lonely man who dislikes his job and can’t get over his ex-wife. As a result, he says “no” to everything around him in order to keep the world at a distance. Then he runs into an old friend (John Michael Higgins) who convinces him to attend a Terrence Bundley (Terence Stamp) seminar. Bundley is a self-help guru who preaches the benefits of saying “yes” in order to open oneself up to new experiences. Surrounded by “Yes Men” converts, Carl is pressured into agreeing to give an affirmative response to every opportunity which presents itself. This new outlook gets off to a rocky start, but it does allow Carl to cross paths with Allison (Zooey Deschanel), a free spirit who lives life to the fullest.

The rest of the film is filled with various situations where Carl must say “yes,” even though a sensible person wouldn’t. He clicks on every pop-up ad imaginable, befriends his nerdy boss, Norman (Ryhs Darby), and begins a manic quest of self-improvement. In a single montage, we see him learn to fly, play guitar and speak Korean (in addition to helping the homeless). How he finds the time to do all this is anybody’s guess.

But whenever he says “no” to something, Carl is beset with bad luck. This brainwashes him to the point that even the most trivial request must be agreed to in order to avoid a karmic backlash. While this opens a lot of doors in his life, it also makes him a virtual slave to those around him. Something has to eventually give, but you’ll have to stick around for the climax to find out what.

Not that the resolution to the film will bowl you over with its originality. In fact, if you’ve seen a few Jim Carrey films, you can probably guess what happens just by having read the plot summary.

That’s not to say that Carrey isn’t amusing; he always has his moments (although the laugh-out-loud scenes are scarce and bordering on non-existent). It’s just that Yes Man feels like a movie we’ve seen before. And if that’s the case, why are we being asked to shell out more money to see it again?

The supporting cast is better than average. Terence Stamp, Zooey Deschanel and Rhys Darby all made an impression, but they’re nothing more than props for the impish Carrey to converse with between pratfalls and bouts of mugging.

Yes Man isn’t a bad film, it’s just the same old thing that Carrey’s been cranking out for years. You could do a lot worse when choosing a movie (see my review of Big Stan), but the film often fails to be as funny as one would hope.

Is it mildly entertaining? Yes.
Is it a harmless way to pass an hour and 44 minutes? Yes.
Will you remember anything about it in a year? NO.