Yes Man (2008)
Directed by Peyton Reed
Written by Nicholas Stoller, Jarrad Paul, Andrew Mogel
Starring Jim Carrey, Zooey Deschanel, Bradley Cooper, John Michael Higgins
Release Date December 19th, 2008
Published December 18th, 2008
In Liar Liar Jim Carrey played a lawyer who could not tell a lie. This, naturally, lead to a number of awkward situations that allowed Carrey to whip himself into a comic frenzy. Now in his latest feature Jim Carrey plays a loan officer who must say yes to everything. If you think this premise allows Carrey to once again whip himself into a wild comic frenzy, you may as well skip the rest of this review. I'm kidding, please keep reading.
Carl has been a sadsack since his wife left him 3 years ago. He rarely leaves his apartment and when he does it is just to rent videos. His best friend Peter (Bradley Cooper) is getting married and expects him to be there for him but even his best pal can't drag him out his funk.
It is not until he attends a self help seminar, at the urging of a strange former acquaintance, Nick (John Michael Higgins), that Carl finally comes out of his shell. The seminar is hosted by Terrence Bundley (Terrence Stamp) whose schtick is getting people to say yes to every opportunity.
With some further prodding from Nick, Carl says yes to giving a homeless man a ride miles out the way. The homeless guy uses up Carl's cell battery and the drive runs him out of gas. However, while filling a gas can Carl meets Allison (Zooey Deschanel). They have instant chemistry and Carl finds the yes to everything strategy could have some real perks.
From there we get a series of scenes that allow Jim Carrey to act more and more goofy and have more and more good things happen to him. That is until, the predictable scene where saying yes finally gets Carl in trouble. A valuable lesson in moderation will be learned while Carrey all the while flips and flops about in search of laughs.
To be fair, Carrey finds plenty of laughs in Yes Man. The guy is a natural comic talent who can't help but stumble into laughs and Yes Man is a movie designed specifically to play into Carrey's strengths. Each scene gives Carrey reason to launch into some kind of comic riff. Some of them are laugh out loud, some, like a Harry Potter themed costume party, lay there in search of a punchline.
The structure of Yes Man may play to Carrey's strengths but the choppy, predictable narrative is in the end terribly unsatisfying. A series of set ups and punchlines fail to serve as a character arc or really a story. There is romantic chemistry between Carrey and Zooey Deschanel but that too is undercut by the lack of a compelling narrative.
Funny in bursts but short one compelling story, Yes Man is a movie for hardcore Carrey fans and no one else.
