YES MAN! Yes!

After watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with its melancholy and rather observant mood on life, YES Man offers another take on living your life, albeit in a rather extreme way. Jim Carrey comes back to the big screen with this comedy about a depressed person turning his life around.

A Snapshot

Carl Allen (Jim Carrey) is such a big loser who rents DVDs and has that nasty habit of saying “NO” to just about anything that comes to his life. Who can blame him? His wife Stephanie left him. He’s been depressed since then.

He’s been working for five years at the bank with his socially inept boss, Norm. His friends Peter (Bradley Cooper) and Rooney (Danny Masterson) had to drag him just to drink with them. His life turns around when Nick (John Michael Higgins) catches up with him and tells him how being a “Yes Man” has changed his life. After missing his friends’ engagement party and realizing how much he’s been missing on life, he decides to give the YES motivation seminar a try. He beings saying YES to just about everything and everyone by giving a homeless man a ride and cash too, taking flying lessons, korean, guitar and all sorts of things that a “normal guy” wouldn’t sign into. He even approves lots of loans for people with all sorts of business and financial needs. He even agreed to a sexual act with Tillie, the next door old lady neighbor!

His life started getting better–he got promoted and he met a new love interest–Allison, a pretty lass who’s into music, jogging and what-have-you.

But eventually, he learns that taking things to the extremes just ain’t the way to go! From an extremely “NO” guy to an extremely “YES” guy, he realized that there’s such a thing called maturity that healthy, sane people should have.

I Like…

Zooey Deschanel is a good actress. She knew what the role needed from her so she delivered. Although the age gap between her and Jim Carrey is noticeable, it hardly seemed to matter in the movie. I also laughed a lot at Norm (Rhys Darby) who was so totally geeky and nerdy to socialize well.

The movie isn’t too deep but I enjoyed the antics of Jim Carrey and how he does all the dumbest things in the world. All the while with that naive principle of saying YES to just about anything. That part when Carrey sang “I will understand….” generated a few chuckles. It also helped that the audience in the fully packed Glorietta 4 Cinema was appreciative. Laughter is truly infectious.

I Kinda Hate

The exaggerated antics and the really unbelievable circumstances kinda annoyed me. Like that arrest at the Lincoln Nebraska airport and the innuendos about Carl’s relationship with the Iranian woman. Well, that wasn’t called for and they might have looked for another complication in the plot.

I did like the movie while I was watching it but there seems to be a lack of really memorable scenes in the story. I was beating my head to remember any memorable scene but too bad I could not. Oh well, some movies are to be enjoyed while they last.

On the Whole

In between chuckles and guffaws, the movie does have a message to us all–that if we open up to opportunity, we’d become better persons. Jim Carrey’s performance in this movie brings him back. Apparently, his brand of comedy has matured, in case that is possible.

If you’re looking for a laugh trip movie, then this movie might just be for you. But if you hate Jim Carrey’s brand of comedy, that’s just too bad!

Directed by Peyton Reed
Screenplay by Nicholas Stoller & Jarrad Paul
Cast:
Jim Carrey Carl Allen
Zooey Deschanel … Allison
Bradley Cooper … Peter
John Michael Higgins … Nick
Rhys Darby … Norman
Danny Masterson … Rooney
Fionnula Flanagan … Tillie
Terence Stamp … Terrence Bundley
Sasha Alexander … Lucy Barnes
Molly Sims … Stephanie

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Post script
Special thanks to Azrael, who’s been busy looking for and organizing events for bloggers.