Yes Man

What it's about:

Carl Allen (Jim Carrey) is a steady, quiet-living guy who just wants to stay out of everyone’s way. But after a run-in with a motivational guru Terrence (Terence Stamp), he takes on a massive challenge: to say "yes" to absolutely everything.


What it's about:

The Number 23 came and went, but really, who cares about the dark 'n damaged schizo Jim Carrey? We want to see the funny-as-hell-version. And that was an itch that 2005’s limp Fun with Dick and Jane just couldn’t scratch.

As Carl Allen, Carrey lowers the bar just enough to whet our appetite for the Hollywood chameleon once more, in an imperfect but surprisingly watchable romanti-comic caper.

Bewitching his straight-and-narrow loan manager is the scatter-brained Allison (Zooey Deschanel), an eccentric role model for his inner ‘Yes Man’. Deschanel does a handy job of being both cute and quirky for ninety minutes, and before long her poster girl status in Nerd-Land is easily secured. Also look out for New Zealand comedian Rhys Darby as Carl’s boss Norman, a living monument of uncoolness who throws way too many theme parties.

Tiny touches of absurdity, of the kind that made Ace Ventura so irresistible, flicker in and out of the action: an overblown trip and fall, a head full of Scotch tape and the full range of ridiculous facial expressions that Carrey is famous for. There will be chuckles.

But chuckles only get you so far, with the merriment starting to wane about 60 minutes into this feather light comedy. Luckily, Yes Man’s premise is more than a slapstick ruse. What if you really said ‘yes’ to everything? It’s not The Alchemist, but on some low-brow level, everyone has a lot to gain from asking just that: what if? The life-affirming conclusions we’re supposed to draw from Yes Man are, eventually, spelt out pretty clearly, but as a comedy self-help flick (based on the book by British humorist Danny Wallace), this one deserves some kind of medal.

With such a lacklustre cinema line-up over this holiday period, you could do far worse than hanging out with Carl Allen and seeing just how funny it can be when ‘no’ becomes ‘yes’.