Good enough to say yes to

Rating: 6/10 (11 May 2012)

Yes Man is a movie which can both entertain and surprise you. It's a Jim Carrey comedy so we know what that entails right? Carrey going way over the top, exaggerated physical antics, the rubber face stretching in every conceivable direction. Anything for a laugh, that's a Jim Carrey movie. Except it's not this Jim Carrey movie. Carrey reins himself in a bit. This is less a Jim Carrey movie and more a breezy romantic comedy which happens to star Jim Carrey. Even with a premise, a character who has to say yes to everything, which seems to set the movie up for all kinds of outrageous, and likely juvenile, shenanigans the movie doesn't go in that direction. OK, there's one unfortunate incident with an old lady. But other than that Carrey's character is saying yes to more mundane things. He says yes to guitar lessons and Korean language classes. Nothing uproariously funny there but things which will pay themselves off in smart ways later. That's what this movie is. Nothing to make you bust a gut laughing but enough to keep you entertained.
On the surface the plot seems to harken back to Carrey's Liar Liar but the movie and Carrey himself don't go to the extremes we saw in that one. This time there's nothing magical or mystical going on as with the man who absolutely could not tell a lie. Carrey plays bank loan officer Carl who has lost in the game of love and retreated into his own little shell. He says no to everything. He says no to life itself. Until a friend drags him to a seminar run by some weirdo guru-type who preaches the power of saying Yes! Carl vows to begin saying yes to everything. Here you expect the movie to start its inevitable flight off the deep end. But no. Carl's first chance to say yes sees him giving a homeless man a ride. This leads him to a meeting with the exceedingly quirky, scooter-riding Allison, played by Zooey Deschanel. Will Carl say yes to falling in love with Allison. Uh, didn't I just mention Allison is played by Zooey Deschanel? Duh, you don't have to have a yes-saying covenant to fall in love with her. From there it's a pretty formulaic romantic comedy. The movie's got enough humor and, helped immeasurably by the wondrous Deschanel, plenty of charm. The jokes and gags aren't huge, certainly not as outrageous as you'd expect in a Carrey comedy, but the more subtle humor works well for this movie. You're not just waiting for the next big Carrey explosion, this movie actually gives you reason to care about its story and its characters. Carrey and Deschanel have great chemistry and it is oh so easy to root for the Carl and Allison relationship to succeed. As in any rom-com there will be complications in the relationship. But there's never really any great drama, no real doubts as to how the story will turn out. But even if the ending has a tinge of inevitability to it the movie has a good time getting there. Not a great comedy but a good one. Pleasant and charming, likely to bring a smile to the face. A more relaxed, restrained Jim Carrey can still be funny. And Zooey Deschanel can be whatever she wants to be, she's that good. Pair them up and you have a movie worth saying yes to.