Flawed Yes Man Easy to Digest
Carl Allen (Jim Carrey) doesn’t do much with his life. A lonely loan agent working for a Los Angeles bank, he’s still unable to get over the wreck he helped make out of his marriage a few years prior, saying no to all of life’s opportunities far easier than taking a chance his heart could get broken for a second time.
Zooey Deschanel and Jim Carrey stay positive in Warner Bros' Yes Man
That changes after he attends a self-help seminar taught be fancy-free Brit Terrence Bundley (Terrence Stamp). After his challenge, Carl takes it upon himself to start saying yes to every new item as it presents itself. Soon he’s learning languages, taking flying lessons and cutting a mean guitar lick. More than that, though, is that he’s opened himself up for eccentric musician and free spirit Allison (Zooey Deschanel). But when challenges present themselves, Carl’s heart once again hangs in the balance, the only thing standing between him and more depression the happy life lessons newfound optimism has taught him.
Other then one particularly unfunny gag involving some scotch tape, Carrey’s new comedy Yes Man is not a sequel to 1997’s Liar, Liar. In fact, the two hold very little in common, nothing mystical at all about Carl’s almost sudden inability to turn down any and all of life’s multitude of requests. Instead, this influx of positivism is all by choice, the unhappy banker making a conscious decision to change even amidst the colossal depressions he thinks dominate his life.
This leads to a lot of potentially interesting avenues for both comedy and drama, and at times director Peyton Reed (The Break-Up) and his trio of screenwriters rise to the occasion. There is an almost unhinged devil-may-care insanity to Carl’s journey that’s freewheeling and decidedly unconventional. The movie unleashes a totally random series of sometimes fortunate events leading to internal revelations the protagonist never would have discovered without them.
The problem is, as refreshingly original as this can sometimes be the film still tends to stall out again and again mainly due to its own inability to maintain focus. Subplots involving Carl’s Harry Potter-obsessed boss Norman (Rhys Darby) or idiotically contrived shenanigans involving copious amounts of Red Bull stops the picture cold, their overly forced levity shanghaiing what would otherwise be a moderately original romantic comedy.
Of course, the film’s genre does itself offer up a bit of a small problem as well. There are no surprises in where this fluffy flirting between Carl and Allison is headed, the final twists as plainly obvious as winter’s snow being freezing cold. Throw in a borderline offensive bit with a randy octogenarian next door neighbor (a slumming Fionnula Flanagan) and there’s plenty to get upset about, so many elements derailing this picture’s prospects it's difficult to count them all.
But for all its faults the movie did make me laugh, sometimes quite a lot. Carrey seems to be in a solid groove, and while this isn’t the same guy I learned to adore thanks to masterworks like The Truman Show, Man on the Moon and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind he’s good enough abominations like The Number 23 or The Majestic almost fade completely from memory.
Throw in winning support from the delightful Deschanel and Yes Man is hardly close to a disaster, enough of it hitting the mark a mild recommendation is almost as easy responding in the affirmative to another helping of my Mom’s mashed potatoes and country gravy. On that front, this picture works, and like down-home cooking some of the residual side effects might not be all that fantastic, they just goes down so well you don’t really care.
Film Rating: êê1/2 (out of 4)
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