YES MAN (2008)

YES MAN (2008)

Tagline: The era of yes has begun.

(Comedy Romance) [PG-13]

Based on an autobiographical book written by Danny Wallace, a British journalist, producer, and author who spent a year answering "yes" to everything and jotting down the results (I have no idea how that experiment went), in this one Carl Allen (played by Jim Carrey), has a life without event. He’s basically not going anywhere and he doesn’t want to do much of anything. He does however end up attending what is basically a cult meeting to try and see if he can improve his life. What comes out of the meeting is his being possessed with an inability to say “NO” to anything. It affects his job, his personal life, and pretty much everything around him. It doesn’t take long before he realizes it’s not a great idea to say “yes” to everything. 

This movie features a bunch of great actors including Carrey and Zooey Deschanel who plays Carl’s potential love interest Allison. The two also have great onscreen chemistry despite being 18 years apart in age. It even features Terence Stamp who is best known as General Zod from freakin SUPERMAN 2. The movie also has Bradley Cooper in it who is kind of the down-to-earth “grounding” force for Carl. I will say with Bradley however my favorite character of his is actually when we don’t see him…we hear him as the voice of Rocket in the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY movies.

I found most of the humor in this landing pretty solidly and overall that makes it a fun watch. There are a few crude jokes in the movie, but overall there is just a ton of lighthearted easy-going comedy. One of the greatest things about this flick is the fact that Allison is in a band called Munchausen By Proxy. We only hear parts of songs in the movie, but the opening of their concert is epic and so are the parts of the songs we get to hear. There are also some really touching moments as well. It’s also shot well cinematically with spot-on timing.

My only critique of this movie is that all said, Carl isn’t that likable. He’s not fun when he’s dull and saying no to everything, but when he’s saying yes to everything, the character feels fake making him harder to genuinely like. To be clear his actions are comedic, but I don’t feel myself rooting for him to keep saying yes. I am rooting for him to get his head on straight. This isn’t an issue with Allison’s character. She was already pretty much what Carl wanted to be. 

Out of all the Jim Carrey flicks from this era, YES MAN is probably the best or ridiculously close. From a comedy perspective, this movie is an absolute blast and I watch it several times a year. I have to give YES MAN a solid 7 out of 7. In spite of the minor issue I have with it, the movie does exactly what it sets out to do in a heartwarming and vastly enjoyable way. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF WARNER BROS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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