Thursday, April 16, 2009

Yes Man (2008)--3/5

Superficially, "Yes Man" is no different from most other Jim Carrey movies. He radically changes his behavior, leading to wacky situations, a girlfriend, eventual comeuppance, and a crowd-pleasing resolution. "Yes Man" has two key differences: 1) Carl (Carrey) is a genuinely good person from start to finish and 2) His behavior changes are self-imposed.

In the crass "Liar Liar," Carrey plays a man forced to tell the truth through a son's successful birthday wish. "Bruce Almighty" gives Carrey no less than the powers of God. In "Yes Man," Carrey is starts out as simply painfully introverted, thanks to a crushing divorce. In a few eye-rolling moments, he even lies to his friends, signaling a carbon-copy of "Liar Liar" that thanfully never materializes. He attends Terence Stamp's motivational seminar and decides, with the help of a public semi-humiliation, to agree to everything. No supernatural forces are preventing him from saying no.

"Yes Man" is still a calculated Carrey vehicle. Until some illogical later conflicts, it has a little more fun than usual. Rhys Darby, so funny as Flight of the Conchords' manager on the HBO series, plays Carrey's nerdy, David Brent-emulating boss. He's constantly throwing elaborate parties, including two based on Warner Bros. properties ("Harry Potter" and "300"). In spite of the forced synergy, the costumes liven up "Yes Man."

Zooey Deschanel performs in a band, Munchausen By Proxy, that has just as many die-hard fans as it should (six or seven). The real band Von Iva performs organically with Deschanel as Munchausen. The details of "Yes Man" are remembered long after the plot has faded.


1 comment:

Stephen said...

I'm still a little disturbed by Carrey and Deschanel's eighteen year age difference.