Reviewed by Amina Malik
Stars Jim Carrey, Zooey Deschanel, Bradley Cooper, John Michael Higgins, Danny Masterson,
Rhys Darby, Terence Stamp, Sasha Alexander | Written by Nicholas Stoller, Jarrad Paul & Andrew Mogel
UK certification 12 | UK RRP £19.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 100 minutes | Directed by Peyton Reed
Actually, a better title for this would be Just Say No – to weak scripts! Carrey plays Carl Allen, a ri-hi-heal-y nice guy with a negative attitude. Life is going badly – he’s stuck in a dead-end job and his last relationship ended three years ago when his girlfriend dumped him.
The tagline of “one word can change everything” is proven true when Carl’s life is turned upside down. He starts to say yes to everything – from approving loans for every customer who requests one to taking flying lessons and learning Korean. Carl’s outlook on life alters and he develops a new, positive attitude – but the consequences of never refusing don’t always work out well for him. There were two reasons why I thought the film was worth watching, and the first is because Carrey is in it, but I was left disappointed. Given Carrey’s recent so-so films, Yes Man is a pleasant nod to his rubber-face roots, but Carrey’s comedy skills are grossly underused and he was altogether more subdued here – like the Energiser Bunny on valium. I can’t help but think this film is his segue into romantic movies. Either that or the now much-needed botox is preventing his face from achieving it’s previous elastic feats. To make it worse, the script just doesn’t stand up. Perhaps making Carl become a Hare Krishna or a Jehovah’s Witness would have been more amusing.
The second reason I wanted to watch this is because the film’s premise is brilliant. Imagine having to say yes to everything – absolutely EVERYTHING – you’re asked to do? I thought I would try being a Yes Woman before writing this review. One Big Issue, two buskers, three identical London Papers and one London Lite later I was out of change and my hands were covered in ink. I chickened out of saying yes to everything before I had to hand over my bank details to a sales rep. Saying yes constantly (for longer than the four hours I managed!) would result in hilarious and entertaining consequences for anyone, so I had high expectations that the film would be entertaining – but overall, did it deliver? Not really, but even when he’s not splitting your sides Carrey has a great ability to evoke empathy for his character, resulting in this feelgood romance with a few chuckles. You will be left with a warm and fuzzy feeling, but this is definitely a rent-rather-than-buy DVD. And some advice: if you want to be a Yes Man (or Woman), be open to new things, but also be sensible about it – you can always say NO.
EXTRAS ** Two featurettes – Down Time on The Set of Yes Man, and Jim Carrey: Extreme Yes Man; five Munchausen By Proxy music videos; a featurette called Future Sounds: Munchausen By Proxy; and a gag reel.
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Who wrote the book on which the film Yes Man is based?
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