Yes Man Review
We haven’t seen Jim Carrey headlining a comedy like this in a while, and unfortunately this vehicle is just a so-so vehicle for his talents.
Liar, Liar is a comparably high-concept Carrey vehicle, but the concept lended itself much better to humor.
Yes Man has moments of fun, but simply having Carrey say yes to everything has limited comic potential. He gets into a fight, his friends make him do chores, he marries a Persian woman after being spammed by a Persian Wife Finder website (okay that one is kind of funny). But just generally this is more of a pleasant comedy than a hilarious one.
Zoey Deschanel appears in full alt-chick glory, complete with a weird band (the backup singers cooh lines like, “Whore no more!”) with 5 fans (whom she identifies by name prior to each show) where she sings lead.
Deschanel and Carrey have a reasonable comic chemistry, the movie has a fun soundtrack (particularly the moment when Journey’s “Separate Ways” plays), and a reasonable amount of jokes hit.
But it’s not top notch comedy, nor is the dramatic core particularly moving. High concept studio material or no, you really gave a damn about Carrey’s kid in Liar, Liar. Yes Man doesn’t have the same effective dramatic core.
My favorite part that makes no sense
Carrey drops a homeless guy off at a park, in the middle of the night, after giving him a ride. The homeless guy leaves the car and sprints, then dives into a bush. Never explained.
Weirdly impressive motorcycle work
For a big comedy, randomly there’s a scene where Carrey (or presumably a stunt double) does a wheely on a motorcycle for like 5 minutes. But there’s enough cutting and it looks legit enough it might just be a number of takes. Either way, it’s pretty impressive stunt work for a goofy movie like this.
Who Will See it?
Whoever got Four Christmases up to $100 million level will think this is the best thing ever, it’s a lot better than that movie, which isn’t saying much.
-Dan Benamor
Comments
One response to “Maybe”
Depression rates being at the high they are at, I really invested a lot of hope into this movie to send a positive message. No, I was not hoping for a bunch of depressed people to come to the theaters and look to Carrey for therapeutic purposes. Sometimes we aren’t “living” life and I thought that maybe, just maybe, in a light-hearted setting Peyton Reed (Director) could deliver the message. The message was there, the delivery was not. (By the way, the message, as I interpreted it, in multiple facets, “Take things day by day, don’t worry too much about the future, live your life for you, be a kid again, be spontaneous…sometimes, LIVE!, laugh when you fall, be ambitious, etc.)
Halfway through – did I feel like watching the rest of this movie? Sadly, “no”.