Yes Man

"The era of "yes" has begun."

Carl (Carrey) goes through life saying "no." He turns down all loans at his bank and avoids his friends. An old friend, Nick (Higgins), invites Carl to attend a life changing seminar / workshop. At the seminar, Carl is singled out by the leader, Terrence (Stamp), to say "yes" to everything: don't think, just do it or bad things will happen. Afterwards Carl gives a homeless man a ride, and ends up stranded in the middle of nowhere with no gas, little money, and a dead cell phone. He walks to the gas station and meets impulsive Allison (Deschanel) who gives him a ride back to his car and a renewed faith in saying "yes."

The following evening he spends the whole evening drinking and partying with his best friends (picture above), the newly engaged Peter (Cooper) and awkward Rooney (Masterson), who take full advantage of Carl's position. He strikes up a friendship with his goofy boss Norman (Darby), complete with a special handshake and nicknames

"You called me Norm!"
"Yeah."
"Could that like be my nickname?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"Ah nice, I like your style, Car. That could be yours."
"Yeah, Carl's pretty short already but..."

He learns to speak Korean, play guitar, and fly a plane... and starts an impulsive relationship with Allison after he sees her band perform (picture below) and joins her running photography class (taking pictures while jogging).

Muchausen By Proxy is actually the band Von Iva and Zooey Deschanel (l to r: Bex Kupersmith, Deschanel, Kelly Harris, and Jillian Iva)

This is the first Jim Carrey film I've seen for awhile... while I love his older films (the comedies when he was just starting, like "Dumb and Dumber"), lately his films have turned serious and don't interest me. I wasn't interested in seeing this film, the previews certainly didn't help, but several of my friends saw and loved it. They love to quote this film, especially the Red Bull scene, so I felt obliged to see / understand what they were talking about. I was pleasantly surprised. There are some unnecessary scenes that miss the mark (in theory they are funny, but just don't pan out), but overall the film was funny, proving that Jim Carrey still has his funny bone!

Zooey Deschanel lights up the screen with every appearance and makes me wonder why I never noticed her before. I especially love the scene with her band, the fictious Muchausen By Proxy (the other band members are in a band called Von Iva, I don't know anything else about them), the music gets stuck in your head and the lyrics are funny

"Don't call me past 11pm, it won't happen again. Happened once, it happened twice, it happened three times, maybe four times, maybe five times, maybe, maybe it happened six times, but it won't happen seven times."

In fact, after finishing the film I downloaded two of the songs (the painfully funny "Uh Huh" and the closing credits "Yes Man" which are on a constant cycle with the songs from the TV show "Glee"). In fact, watching the band, I was inspired to try Zooey's real band "She and Him," and have completely fallen in love.

Back to the film... Yes, it is formulaic and has a clear message, but that isn't too annoying. Some moments are unbelievable (like the sequence with Peter's fiance Lucy, played by Sasha Alexander), but it does inspire you to get up and start saying "yes" and trying random new things. Well done filmmakers, and Red Bull for the obvious (and hillarious) marketing scene.

Yes Man (2008) 104 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for crude sexual humor, language and brief nudity.
Director: Peyton Reed
Starring: Jim Carrey as Carl Allen
Zooey Deschanel as Allison
Bradley Cooper as Peter
John Michael Higgins as Nick
Rhys Darby as Norman
Danny Masterson as Rooney
Fionnula Flanagan as Tillie
Terence Stamp as Terrence Bundley