Yes Man (2008)
I did not care for Yes Man. I didn’t find it to be the movie train wreck that some reviewers did, but I did find myself wanting it to end. I rarely broke a smile or chuckled during Yes Man, and the scattered chuckles were all somewhat muted. In fairness, before writing this piece I visited a number of websites, and Yes Man does have a relatively strong following.
Yes Man stars Jim Carrey, Bradley Cooper, Zooey Deschanel, Terence Stamp and Sasha Alexander. Yes Man was directed by Peyton Reed – who also directed The Break Up, Down With Love and Bring It On.
Yes Man is the story of a down and out, divorced bank loan officer (played by Jim Carrey) who has become so introverted that he almost comes across as agoraphobic. Carrey’s problems are pretty much the standard laundry list: dead end job he doesn’t like, divorced from a woman who makes him fall apart when she’s even nearby, no girlfriend, no activities, no hobbies – and the accompanying chip on his shoulder.
One day, while sitting alone and eating his mundane lunch, an old acquaintance of Carrey’s happens by. His visitor tells him he’s happy now, because he’s become a Yes Man. He gives Carrey a brochure for a Yes Man seminar, then proceeds to break a bank window with a rock and run from police.
Carrey soon ends up attending a Yes Man seminar headed by no other than Terence Stamp. During the seminar Carrey is personally confronted by Stamp and agrees to a covenant: to say yes to life – and everything else. Despite the fact that upon leaving the seminar this covenant backfires on him – a bum asks him for a ride to a distant place, and then asks him for all the money he is carrying – Carrey stays the course of saying yes to life.
As you might imagine, always saying yes might be interesting, but it’s not really very functional and does have its drawbacks and potential dangers. As Carrey finds out in Yes Man.
I would not recommend buying a ticket to watch Yes Man, but I would not completely rule it out for a DVD rental one night. I will never watch it again, but you might just turn out to be one of the Yes Man fans.
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