Yes Man (2008)
Directed by Peyton Reed
Carl Allen, a guy whose life is going nowhere, signs up for a self-help program based on one simple covenant: say yes to everything…and anything.
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In supporting roles, Zooey Deschanel is appealing as the girl Carl meets by accident; Bradley Cooper is properly supportive as Carl's lawyer buddy; John Michael Higgins is capable as the old friend who persuades Carl to go to the "Yes" seminar; Terance Stamp is his usual menacing yet commanding self as the yes-man guru; and Rhys Darby is a kick as Carl's nerdy boss, desperately in need of fitting in (think of Rick Moranis's character from "Ghostbusters" here; I told you the film borrows heavily).
The getting-to-know-you stuff between Carl and Allison, though, is where the film really takes off, and they share a number of swoon-worthy set-pieces, one set after-hours at the Hollywood Bowl (echoes of 1987's "Some Kind of Wonderful" are unavoidable) and another where they decide to fly somewhere on the spur of the moment and end up in Lincoln, Nebraska.
The point of "Yes Man" is that Carl is transformed; he needs to start off as a sad-sack loser, like Jack Lemmon in "The Apartment," so he can be reborn.
The drab production lacks the cheeky exuberance of director Peyton Reed’s cheerleading flick Bring it On and the stylistic vibrancy of Down with Love, his homage to pillow-talk romantic comedies of the late ’50s and early ’60s.
Director Peyton Reed, who in the past has brought interesting slants to established genres (the breezy Rock Hudson/Doris Day homage Down With Love being an example), holds Carrey on a tight leash for the opening section of the film then abruptly chooses to ditch myopic Carl to suit Carrey's patented brand of screen lunacy.
Reed's "Down With Love," a careful homage to Rock-and-Doris comedies, showed a careful eye, if not an abundance of wit; his follow-up, "The Break-Up," was, amazingly, both funny and adult.
Director Peyton Reed ("Down with Love," "The Break-Up") manages a huge cast and a plethora of locations and events with seeming ease, connecting the dots that tie a Korean lesson with wedding planning and, later, match making.
He is ably aided by director Peyton Reed, who has demonstrated a deft hand with music-drenched comedy in the films Bring It On, Down With Love and The Break-Up.
“Yes Man” coasts for a while on the appeal of those three and on the visual pizazz supplied by director Peyton Reed (“Down With Love”), but the middle of the movie — the hour or so during which Carrey says “yes” to everything and gets into scrapes as a result — is repetitive and not very funny.
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The film�s comic centerpiece is a thwarted suicide sing-along to Third Eye Blind�s Jumper and dreadfully tries to wring laughs from Carl�s boss (Rhys Darby), a fantasy-loving doofus whose desire to be liked makes The Office�s Michael Scott look like Kevin Spacey in Swimming with Sharks.
OK, the movie borrows heavily from any number of other films, not only like the aforementioned "Liar Liar" but also from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "The Bucket List," and Carrey's own "The Mask."
He's in a perpetually negative mood because of his divorce three years ago and because his boss, Norman (Rhys Darby of TV's Flight of the Conchords ), has the annoying habit of acting like Mike Myers doing Austin Powers .
In an idea reminiscent of Liar Liar , a film in which Carrey was compelled to tell the truth all the time, the conversion attracts a range of comedic consequences.
It’s essentially a carbon copy of Liar Liar (replace those lies with the word “yes”), but it’s refreshing to see him back in something funny and harmless after clunkers like Fun with Dick and Jane and The Number 23.
You can't blame him, especially in these troubled times, for harkening back to the profitable days of "Liar Liar," wherein he played a lawyer forced to tell the truth.
In many ways, it's reminiscent of Liar Liar -- only here he doesn't have to tell the truth, just say "yes."
Jim Carrey adds a little comic energy with his performance as Carl just like he did in Liar Liar, The Cable Guy and Ace Ventura.
Jim Carrey made a movie in 1997 titled " Liar Liar " in which his character is a lawyer who suddenly finds he cannot tell a lie.
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So not only is Yes Man the most satisfying Americanisation of a British novel since Nick Hornby's High Fidelity, it is the most even-keeled, pleasant and mainstream movie Jim Carrey has made in many a moon.
Been there, done that (see Jack Nicholson in Something's Gotta Give ).