Yes Man Review

When things aren't going so well, can you really blame someone for going back to what they do best?

Jim Carrey became one of the biggest movie stars in the world by being thoroughly silly and goofy. That's how we liked in him in the mid and late 1990's. Of course, he tried to "stretch" as an actor, which led to a noticeable decrease in the audience for his movies, but in my opinion, has led to his best work ("Truman Show", "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind")

Still, it's been a couple of years since Carrey had a really big hit (voicing the elephant in "Horton Hears a Who" doesn't count), so I can't blame him for going back to the comedy well the same way I don't blame Harrison Ford for strapping on the fedora and whip for another "Indiana Jones" movie. Apparently, that's how we like them.

Fortunately, other than Carrey coming off as slightly too old for his love interest and reverting back to his "Jim Carrey" faces two or three times, "Yes Man" is funny and charming enough to not completely seem like an obvious bid to regain a mass audience (hi, Indy!).

The movie, based on "The Yes Man" by British humorist Danny Wallace, follows Carl Allen (Carrey) an anti-social, sad sack of a man who attends seminar at his friend's (John Michael Higgins) behest and agrees to say "yes" to every opportunity that comes his way.

As you've seen in the trailer, Carl goes bungee jumping, learns Korean and generally becomes more confident and popular.

What isn't so apparent from the trailer and commercials for this movie is that "Yes Man" is more than just "Liar, Liar 2." Carl is more than a just negative jerk. Director Peyton Reed (the underrated "Down with Love) and co-writers Nicholas Stoller, Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel show us that he's a guy who's stuck in a cycle of being closed off from the rest of the world because he's miserable and being miserable because he's closed off from the rest of the world. Carrey's previous dramatic work helps him in the more (semi)serious scenes.

That's not to say there aren't some "Liar, Liar" touches. Sometimes it just looks downright ridiculous to see a guy in his 40s acting the way Carrey does. It would've been interesting to see this material and concept with a different, more subtle actor (Steve Carell or Paul Rudd), but as far as Jim Carrey vehicles go, this movie is one of the better ones.

That's in part because he's aided by great-to-solid support from the rest of the cast.

Zooey Deschanel makes for as lovely and unconventional a love interest for a goofball as she did for Will Ferrell in "Elf." She plays free-spirited Allison and the movie finds a clever way of working in Deschanel's musical talents by having Allison front a hilarious band called Munchausen by Proxy.

Still, she's outdone by Rhys Darby, looking like a young Michael Caine and stealing every single one of the scenes he's in as Carl's boss (Carrey generously plays the straight man in his scenes with Darby). Darby's performance is sweet and kooky to the point that I actually wondered if his character was supposed to be slightly brain damaged.

There are also fun turns from Bradley Cooper (it's nice to see him NOT playing a psychotic A-hole for a change), Fionnula Flanagan (beware of your little old lady next door neighbor) and Terrence Stamp (a brief and lively turn as the "Yes Man" maestro).

While I doubt it'll become a signature role for Carrey (ala "The Mask", "Dumb and Dumber" or "Ace Ventura") "Yes Man" is a funny movie from one of the biggest comedic movie stars in the world.

Yes Man...B