Monday, December 22, 2008

YES MAN

“YES MAN” (Jim Carrey & Zooey Deschanel)
If it wasn’t for Zooey being so adorably cute, this film would have faltered big time.
Not a lot of laughs, with Carrey back to thinking acting childish & mugging for the camera is humorous, but there are a few comedic moments that should make you grin, or maybe even chuckle quietly. But what I took away from this romantic comedy is just a sweet little story about two opposites attracting until she discovers his persona was given to him by the director of a seminar (Terence Stamp) where the subject is told he must answer ‘Yes’ to every question or favor that is asked of him. Carrey, of course, is the ‘subject’ in question.
His divorce, coupled with a dead end job as a loan officer at a bank has caused Carl (Carrey) to just ‘give up’ – He says ‘No’ to everyone – Spends most of his time in his bathrobe watching DVD rentals while sprawled on his well worn couch.
When an old acquaintance tells him about the ‘Yes’ seminar, Carl realizes his boring life needs a jolt & he attends. The covenant he enters into with the ‘inventor’ of ‘YES’ immediately leads to his driving a homeless man ‘home’ to a dark, wooded area of a park, allowing the hobo to talk on his cell phone until the battery dies & then running out of gas shortly after dropping the man off. But this eventually leads to a chance encounter with Allison,(Zooey) a little cutie on a motorbike. In fact, by saying yes to everything, Carl happens upon Allison again. He soon realizes when he sticks with the agreement, good things happen & when he goes against the rule bad things happen (Like when he says ‘no thanks’ to his elderly neighbor when she offers to... uh, pleasure him)
So, ‘Yes Man’ isn’t all that funny, but it is a pleasant romance story. If you go in thinking you’re going to laugh a lot, you’ll be disappointed – so go into it with low expectations on the ‘laugh-o-meter’ & you won’t be sorry you said yes to ‘Yes Man’.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds as if "Yes Man" retraces "Liar Liar" in a few ways.

Mr. Carrey should answer affirmatively to the following dictum: The same old shtick demands a novel plot; the same old plot demands some innovative moves. Even Eddie Murray and Robin Williams from time to time vary actions and/or settings. It appears that Mr. Carrey will follow Stephen Segal into predictable tedium.

The dictum is not always true. John Wayne often played John Wayne in a very Duke way through some very familiar plots. "El Dorado" is cited as a rerun of "Rio Bravo," but that is only a pole of Mr. Wayne's self-plagiarized Westerns. Still, "The Searchers" is reckoned a cut above other Ford-Wayne collaborations because Mr. Ford allowed/encouraged Mr. Waybe to go beyond what the two of themhad done to death.

Still, Mr. Carrey might see what else he can do lest we imagine he is merely a clown repating himself. Rodney Dangerfield got to play Rodney Dangerfield for quite a while because the premises varied enough.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Mr. Smithee is back! Nice to see you chiming in. Actually I also thought Yes Man is kind of like Liar, Liar at least in premise. Think about it... I can't tell a lie. I can't say no. I got a couple of chuckles from it. If anything when he is doing his comedic shtick, he's interesting to watch, bending and making faces, etc. Do I feel I wasted my money ? No, not really.
I'll still maintain that Tropic Thunder is the funniest movie of the year. An owner to have in the collection.
As Terry has let some of us know, that Mr. Smithee is of sound, educated mind and has more movie going experience than probably most of the poster's coming here.
I would like to know what his opinion would be about Slumdog Millionaire. Someone of obvious articulate mind and their analogy on this movie, that is practically sweeping many of the critic awards for Best Picture.
Something so very odd... though it is written by an Oscar nominated writer of The Full Monty and directed by Danny Boyle from Trainspotting, Millions fame, it's cast are all unknown's and it's a small budgeted film, set in Mambai. It'd look obviously like a hard movie to get into. Yet it has a strong word of mouth, and many, myself included, think it will ( should ) be nominated for an Oscar.
This is one movie I would like to know what Mr. Smithee's opinion was of it. Not Yes Man or Nobel Son. That's a compliment actually.
Next up for Mr. Carey if ya want to know ? He'll play all the major character's ( the ghost's ) plus Scrooge in Robert Zemeckis take on A Christmas Carol, in a animatronic version ( like Polar Express ) so that's some different material for the comedian.
Top 5 so far- The Curious Case Of 1) Benjamin Button, 2) Slumdog, 3) Frost/Nixon, 4) The Wrestler, 5)Changeling. Still have to see Revolutionary Road, Grand Torino, Wendy and Lucy, Defiance, The Reader, Walz With Bashir.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Smithee has alen behind in his movie-watching. As soon as snows melt and Christmas passes, Mr. Smithee will see a movie or two.

Anonymous said...

Ho-ho-ho...Merry Christmas ! Santa hasn't seen Yes Men yet but I'm going to. Don't see a bad review for it. Thought Role Models was funny.

I do agree with the person about Millionaire though. Ultimate root for the underdog movie. Frightening, comelling with beautuful thrown in if that makes sense. Passionate in the midst of chaos. A crowd pleaser that's the best indie that could. First movie to see on word of mouth alone this year. Only movie I will tolerate beating Milk at Academy.
And Mark Texaira is overrated ( 8 yeard-180 million dollars !! ) Only the Yankees. Only the Yankees.
I hate Makor league baseball players. Bank robbers.

Anonymous said...

So if I follow the lead of 'Yes Man' & say yes to everything, even when my gut tells me to say no that would mean that I'd have to say 'yes' if my wife decides she wants to see 'A Christmas Carol' re-made for the 57th time, & in the same annoying style as one of my least-liked films ever, 'Polar Express' . . . Naw, can't do it!
I WON'T be seeing 'Christmas Carol LVII' next winter...

Anonymous said...

Can you expand on this Christmas Carol movie ? I don't get the correlation to Yes Man.
It's being remade again ? Disney ? Animation ? Do tell.

I thought Yes Man was just OK. Kind of cool to see Carrey back as the wacky guy.

Anonymous said...

The only Jim Carrey comedy that worked for me was "Me, Myself & Irene" - Carrey redeemed himself for all the crap he made prior to that film for me. 'Yes Man' was a 'return to making crap' as far as I was concerned - Zooey being the saving grace. When he wrapped his face in Scotch tape for a sight gag, I knew the film was going to be void of any 'real' comedy. At this point I would suggest something I'm normally opposed to - Make a "Me, Myself & Irene" sequel!
Apparently 'A Christmas Carol' is being made yet again, this time by Robert Zemeckis(for 2009) with Jim Carrey playing/voicing several characters...