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Is Yes Man a riot and does Jim Carrey get to live up
to his own reputation in this mind control motormouth outing?
The answer is yes, and no. Finding himself at the crossroads
of something or other, and this time around not just as
a character but an older funny man deep into midlife crisis
territory with pressing identity reinvention issues, Carrey
makes a less than winning bid to pull off sweet, sexy, serious
and outrageous all at the same time.***
Banking on that multiple personality makeover here
as sourpuss contrarian LA loan officer Carl, Carrey takes
the advice of a nutty pal to attend a self-help Yes convention
presided over by a grouchy guru (Terence Stamp), to turn
his life around and think positively. The problem is that
he then swings in the opposite direction and becomes incapable
of ever saying no, and in serious situations that require
just backing off for his own good.***
In between battling his own assorted daffy demons, Carl
encounters and falls in love with Allison (Zooey Deschanel),
a ditzy outdoor health trainer. And she's such a turn-on
for the lonely loon, that his addiction to surfing the Net
for babes at PersianWifeFinder.com, pretty much wanes.***
Directed by Peyton Reed (The Break-Up) and adapted
by Nicholas Stoller (Fun with Dick and Jane) from the Danny
Wallace's memoir probing a similar dilemma, Yes Man, like
its ambivalent protagonist, never quite settles down into
a narrative comfort zone. And, with those zany Carrey moments
just too few and far between.***
At the same time, there are a few just not funny episodes.
Including an annoying suicidal ledge jumper who's coaxed
into rethinking his life and death priorities, by joining
Carl in a duet with sidewalk gawkers as backup singers.
And then there's the usual grotesque older woman sex maniac
(Fionnula Flanagan) who's always the butt of chuckling scorn
in these sorts of comedies. So how come nearly the same
age difference between Carrey and Flanagan also exists between
Carrey and that goofy big bangs brunette Deschanel off screen,
but when it's an older guy rather than a woman, it's all
about romance and not ridicule.***
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