Opening Day: 19 December 2008

Synopsis:

Jim Carrey stars as Carl Allen, a guy whose life is going nowhere—the operative word being "no"—until he signs up for a self-help program based on one simple covenant: say yes to everything...and anything. Unleashing the power of "YES" begins to transform Carl's life in amazing and unexpected ways, getting him promoted at work and opening the door to a new romance. But his willingness to embrace every opportunity might just become too much of a good thing.

Movie Review:

After taking on serious obsession drama like The Number 23 and doing voice for children animation for Horton Hears A Who, Yes Man marks Jim Carrey’s return to exaggerated silly comedy to show off what he does best and that’s goofy expression mesh physical comedy.

This time round, the concept (or excuse) for Jim Carrey to pull all the larger-than-life expression and behavior is quite a good one. This concept is a simple positive life affirming and changing idea that could rub off on the general viewers and it’s just simply say Yes to whatever comes your way.

The execution of this rather formulaic “change of protagonist’s character” was done in a short and sweet fashion which enable viewers to get the juicy part of the film (ie when Jim Carrey’s Carl starts to say Yes to everything). Right from the introduction of his character Carl Allen as a negative person who tends to say No to all things new coming his way, nursing his broken hearts with the constant influx of movies (I’m sure one MX reviewer could relate to that) to where the change happened, it happened rather quickly but in an effective and endearing manner.

Credit got to be given to Terence Stamp (as the motivator) in his short appearance here. It seems that it’s will take a long while to convert the negative Carl Allen into one that embrace life but watching the wonderful Terence Stamp doing his motivation pitch made it all so believable that one could change in that short time frame. Personally, if I am the one attending a motivation talk hosted by Terence Stamp, I would be willing to do whatever he is telling me to do.

In addition, having the charming Zooey Deschanel as the maiden muse, Allison on screen also made time fly right by. The romance and chemistry between Allison and Carl was breezy and infectious, making this not only a motivational movie but also a great movie to bring a date along.

However, it’s still Jim Carrey’s movie and he did it with just the right amount of comedy flair that made the protagonist of Yes Man so endearing to follow. It’s easy to buy the different phase that his character is in and root for him as he takes on those unbelievable requests (which he had to say yes to).

There are people who peg this film as a Liar Liar 2 with the similarities of the central characters doing things that out of character for them and resulting in a life changing phrase. It isn’t too far off but this simple concept is highly motivational and could easily rub off on the audience. Personally Yes Man was a whole lot of fun compared to Liar Liar and the premise had that reality flavor infuse to it that common folks like you and me could actually achieve what his character set out to do.

So come on, take heed of the message as you leave the cinema and Say Yes to what ever comes your way (However, as this film caution, do everything in moderation).

Movie Rating:



(Say YES to Yes Man!!!)

Review by Richard Lim Jr