Why say 'no' when you can say 'yes' ... I repeat, when you CAN say 'yes' ...

Rating: 7/10 (15 February 2013)

Back in the high school days, my neighbor at table wanted to copy my homework, I said 'no', it was an essay, and the teacher would notice the obvious similarities. He took it very badly and sat in another table. The next afternoon, I gave him the paper, what made me change my mind, he asked me. I thought 'what the hell', what made the goddamn paper so serious anyway. He was pleasantly surprised, 14 years later; the guy is still my best friend, and it was a 'yes' that paved the way to our relationship.
In a similar case, Jim Carrey is Carl, the main protagonist of "Yes Man", a man alienated by his perpetually negative outlook on life. He refuses to attend at his friends' parties, he refuses every proposition in his bank loan office job, his 'No' are the convenient escapism to any form of unpredictability that could spice up his life a little bit. Since his divorce, Carl sticks to his habits of loneliness and bitterness, to a point we wonder if we're really watching a comedy. Granted it's only the set-up before the life-changing experience but some parts were surprisingly depressing, and a more restrained Jim Carrey didn't make things better.
His life comes to a miserable dead-end, until he discovers, from an old colleague, a 'Yes!' seminar whose inspirational guru Terrence played by the namesake Stamp, challenges him to say 'yes' to everything during an entire year. Carl accepts and the 'yes' attitude promises a series of funny situations. You guessed it; "Yes Man" follows exactly the same pattern as another (and funnier) Jim Carrey movie, named "Liar, Liar". Since all the best comedies rely on a promising plot, try to compare the two situations, which is funnier: a lawyer who can't say one lie during one day or an average schmuck saying 'yes' to everything although he can say 'no'.
What made "Liar, Liar" so irresistible was that Carrey's character was incapable to say a lie, he was victim of a curse, and one we accept it because 'lying is indeed wrong'. In "Yes Man", the eventuality of a curse in underdeveloped but there's no doubt that Carl can say 'no' and in fact, he SHOULD. Ever since he starts his 'yes' attitude, and accepts to take a bum to some place and give him the money he asks, we know there are limits to the positive attitude. And we know it's a matter of time before Carl realizes the limits of saying 'Yes' to everything. Nothing is more unfortunate than a comedy where you're one step ahead of the characters, no matter how sympathetic they are.
The main problem of "Yes Man" is to take the (so so) originality of its plot for granted and fill it with comedic archetypes that reduce the talent of Jim Carrey rather than liberate it. When Carl accepts to say 'yes' during the first nights, he ends up stranded in a park, and this is where he meets Allison (Zooey Deschanel), a young (maybe too young) nonconformist artist riding him back on her scooter to the next gas station. Allison is a girl who seizes the day, sings, takes running photographs, enjoys the unpredictability of life, basically, she's a natural 'yes, girl". Carl follows her by saying 'yes, to everything she does.
Again, we know it's a matter of time before they would start loving each other, and before the 'yes' too many would come. Yet, despite some predictable plot points, Peyton Reed's movie depicts in an enjoyable way the exhilaration of saying 'yes'. Carl bonds his with his friends, his nerdy boss, he takes the courage to jump off a bridge, in the most memorable part of the film (and it's only fitting that Carrey did it himself, embodying the main message of the film). Carl learns guitar, takes flying course, attends Korean lessons, and meets an Iranian girl, the way all of his new lessons converge to an unpredictable and hilarious gag, is one of the film's highlight.
The film also focuses on Carl's profession and it's interesting that his new attitude, allows him to bond with his boss, in another twist reminding of "Liar, Liar". By never rejecting the customers, Carrey basically reinvented the micro-loans and earned the company more benefits and a great reputation. Carl's job reveals the film's softer side, and kind of reminds of the James Bailey-figure from "It's a Wonderful Life". The part where everyone helps him at the end, provides the obligatory moral that every service is rewarded, and no man a failure who has friends, and a 'yes' can open many friendships.
This is why I started with the story of my best friend and this is why I feel indulgent toward "Yes Man" who despite its predictability is redeemed by its positive feeling à la Frank Capra. I only wished the movie would give more flexibility to Jim Carrey to let him express his usual goofiness. Carrey is such a comedic genius you never get tired of his mimic or clown mannerisms, and "Yes Man" is no exception, no matter how funny are some parts plot-wise, they're never as hilarious as when Jim Carrey plays with his face. No one can reach his level of comic, so why preventing us from that, especially since it doesn't even ruin the overall mood of the film?
My comparison with "Liar, Liar" wasn't meant to diminish the merit of "Yes Man", if not the best, but one of the sweetest Jim Carrey's comedies, but to highlight the level it had to equal: it had the message, it needed the laughs. Yes the message was positive, but predictable. I didn't need it personally, I remember one of my uncle's sayings, which best summarizes the experience of Carl, "Why say 'no' when you can say 'yes'". And that's the point, sometimes, you can't say "yes", which gives more value to the word.