Don't be a Yes Man

Rating: 3/10 (6 January 2009)

Buoyed by some good reviews, stirred by extensive press coverage, bored by the Xmas holidays, I looked forward to the return to form of the truly funny Carey. Carey seems to have lost his way since his reasonably successful wander into 'straight' acting with Eternal Sunshine, and we all want the real Jim back (same for you Mr E Murphy). Both men have outrageous comic talent, but seem unable to find right now (it's behind you!), so I hoped 'Yes Man' would deliver me the Carey of 'Dumb and Dumber' and/ or 'The Truman Show'.
Alas.....picture the scene: A 30 second pitch details nothing more than a man who has to say 'Yes' to everything, Carey is on board and the comic japes he can get up to are endless. It's Liar, Liar circa 2008. Brilliant, let's go. Carey even has points, his heart is in it, can't fail. Dates are set, the screenplay begun. Shooting looms, the screenplay is awful. Constantly rewritten during the shoot. Cast and crew do their best but the premise is lame, cannot be saved. The movie is disjointed, characters lifeless, and the plot written merely to accommodate a feeble joke or two. Post production, let's grab some great Eels tracks and try and paper some cracks, 'they' might not notice. OK, 'si-so', they're gonna notice, only one thing for it.... 1. Release it at Xmas, where the movie going public is at it's hungriest (and when word of mouth is relatively restricted) 2. Grease the tabloids and get some good reviews. 3. Plaster it everywhere, throw even more cash at it, wall to wall on every advertising medium under the sun.
It's the oldest trick in the book  well, since the 70's; "we'll have our money back and more before they even notice". And they did, I fell for it, they have my money, wasted 90 minutes of my life and I am mortified. Don't fall for it, don't get sucked in, heed my words, and don't be a 'Yes' man like me! This is tripe.