Tries to transcend being yet-another Carrey vehicle flick; doesn't quite pull it off

Rating: 6/10 (2 January 2011)

I actually kind of liked Yes Man. For much of the time, I thought I was watching a movie where the plot and the writing for various characters took precedence over the goal of feeding another body to the Carrey-loving piranhas.
It was interesting: It appears that when the plot stopped moving forward, Carrey started becoming his usual buffoon; a kind of cinematic version of nature abhors a vacuum. When the plot again got (sort of) roused from its slumber, the direction of Carrey fell back into the territory where his antics get subsumed under the larger (and surely nobler) goal of delivering an actual story to the viewer.
Carrey is capable of doing fine acting. I want to see a flick where, from start to finish, that's what he does. And, of course, with his clout and cache, he can afford to pick and choose a script and role (and director) that will allow him to do this.
When you discount Carrey's buffoonery, what's left? Unfortunately, a mixed bag. The overall theme is great: Positivity nets you good fortune. I loved that message! The bit of business at the end of the movie--with the love interest, and revisiting the seminar to reconfront the guru--was sort of cool, but seemed to me not to have been written and directed well.
In general I would characterize this as a movie that still relies too much on Carrey's draw, and so thinks it can afford to skimp on the aesthetics. Sad to see it's still like this after so many years!