I first saw the theatrical trailer for ‘Yes Man’ a couple of months ago, and the first thought that entered my mind was ‘Greeaaat, yet another one of those kinds of Jim Carrey movies’.  But the premise intrigued me, so I made up my mind to see it when it hits the theaters.

 The movie’s tag line is that “One word can change everything”, where one miserable bank clerk’s life is changed forever by just saying ‘yes’ to everything, a premise lifted from author, producer and journalist Danny Wallace’s biography about his experiences when he said ‘yes’ to each and every question thrown at his way.

 Jim Carrey’s Carl Allen is a miserable bank clerk whose job was to deny or approve bank loans.  It doesn’t help any that a promotion he was vying for was awarded to a new employee, or that his ex-wife that he’s divorced three years before was now in a flourishing relationship.  Personally I think he was suffering from an undiagnosed case of depression and the reason why he was saying no to everything was because he was in no mood to socialize with the happy people in his life.  He was an ass, but not intentionally; everybody copes at different paces after all.  The acting was okay, it’s nothing we haven’t seen before; do a little tweaking and it is Bruce Nolan from ‘Bruce Almighty’ or Fletcher Reede from ‘Liar Liar’.  Adequate, but nothing worth raving about.

 Zooey Deschanel played Allison, a…what does one call her?  She rides a moped, she’s the lead singer in a band (with lyrics like “Don’t call me past 11 PM, it won’t happen again. You can call me at 10:59 but don’t call me at 11 because that’s my rule now”) and she teaches a jogging-while-taking-pictures-of-random-stuff class in the mornings.  Personally I think it’s great that Zooey Deschanel was picked for this role; she always has that dry way of delivering lines that make said lines more interesting when listened to.  She’s really pretty too, although the fact that she’s eighteen years younger than Jim Carrey does freak me out a bit.

 The supporting cast was great.  Bradley Cooper as Peter, Carl’s happily engaged best friend was adorable.  I couldn’t, for the life of me, see why anybody would want to waste that much time and energy for a schmuck like Carl but this dude made it seem like prodding your recluse of a best friend to do things was the easiest and most natural of things to do.  And it literally blew me away to see John Michael Higgins, of ‘That 70’s Show’ fame, in this movie, as Nick the freeloader.  I didn’t think he still existed, and seeing him in this movie was just…wow.

 Director Peyton Reed was no newbie to feel-good movies like these.  He was well trained; after all, he directed the original “Bring It On” and “Down With Love”.  This was his first big screen project after the failure that was “The Break-Up” and I think he’s redeemed himself.  Although I’m in awe at how big of a budget this movie must have, as there are a ton of movie references: at least three of the Harry Potter films, 1408, 300, Saw, and at least ten more as most of Carl’s scenes were shot in a video rental store. 

 This movie struck a cord in me, because I saw myself in Jim Carrey’s Carl when he was still showering ‘no’s to everybody and everything.  That was how I lived my life for the last six months of 2008, and I’ve got to tell you, it was no stroll in the park. 

 I suppose this movie was supposed to be inspiring, and it is, very much so because we see just how many opportunities are opened up and just how his life changes for the better just by saying ‘yes’.  He got to save a life, bungee jump, learn a new language, learn how to fly a helicopter and got promoted, among other things.  So in the last part when it is made clear that he wasn’t using the ‘system’ properly, I didn’t buy it; his life was transformed from black to white, how could he not have done it correctly? 

 All in all it was an entertaining film, I was actually surprised at the direction the story took.  When I first thought of how stories with a premise like this would end, I figured that Carl Allen was going to kick the bucket in the end, as he’s “experienced and lived life to the fullest, finally”. 

 Rating: 7.5/10 because it actually made me think.