Yes Man

Yes Man



As comedy becomes more sophisticated and complex and subtle. As it twists and turns trying to insert itself up its own arse. Thanks to Larry David and Judd Apatow with their high brow, organic, fair-trade brand of comedy, it's getting easier to forget the larger than life, laugh-out-loud (remember laughing out loud?) pioneers of comedy like Adam Sandler and Jim Carrey.

Carrey tried to raise his profile by taking more dramatic roles like The Truman Show and The Majestic. A thousand miles from the gurning, grinning crazy man who brought to life Ace Ventura and The Mask.

Yes Man is a return to his roots of sorts for Carrey. A flimsy pretext is used to loose Carrey's antics on the world...
Carl Allen a recently divorced Loan Manager has shut himself off from human contact in the hope it will save him from any further hurt. He refuses to answer the phone to his loyal best friend, Peter (Bradley Cooper), or spend any time socializing.

His self enforced isolation causes him to miss his friend's engagement party and so, he decides to take drastic measures. He decides to attend a self-help seminar hosted by Terence Bundley (Terence Stamp) where he's convinced to just say 'Yes' regardless of the situation.

He finds out in comedic style just how enriched his life can be if he opens himself up to every opportunity. He meets a girl, learns to speak a foreign language, makes new friendships and strengthens old ones. Some of the opportunities are less desirable than others though as he can no longer refuse the advances of his amorous elderly Landlady.

The laughs are hearty and plentiful like when Carl goes jogging after an all-night Red Bull party, not suspecting the energy drink might wear off. Or when he's touring the Abattoir with his new girlfriend Allison (Zooey Deschanal) and he passes clean out on the floor.

It isn't without its flaws though; The obligatory scene near the end where everything seems lost is a bit contrived with Allison finding out that he only ever says Yes and dumping him for it. This after confessing her love for him. The film runs at nearly two hours and wouldn't suffer from a few cuts here and there.

There are plenty of large characters for Carrey to riff off of, but the film works best by putting him into outlandish scenarios and leaving him to do his thing.

Verdict 7/10
A physical actor with enough energy to power a city, it's great to see Carrey return to form.