Yes Man

Dir: Peyton Reed

2008

*

Like with every other film I watch, I approached 2008's Yes Man with an open mind. I say this because there were a couple of things about the film I disliked, even before sitting down to watch it. I can't stand Jim Carrey, I'm really not in Zooey Deschanel's fan club and Peyton Reed had yet to make a good film (he wouldn't make a good film until 2015's Ant-Man, although I'm still puzzled as to why he was asked in the first place). I also can't stand Danny Wallace (whose book the film is based on), or Danny Wallace's hair for that matter. However, Jim Carrey was good in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Man on the Moon, Zooey Deschanel can be sometimes quirky in a positive, almost likable sort of way and the film stars the great Terrance Stamp and features the brilliant Rhys Darby in his feature film debut. It's also co-written by Nicholas Stoller, who while being hit and miss when it comes to movies, has been more hit than miss in recent years. Like I said, I was open-minded. I hated every second of this horrible, horrible film. Jim Carrey doesn't act, he performs and I don't mean that in a good way. His character is the same as it is in nearly every film he's in, he's a rubber-faced goon who thinks he's Jerry Lewis or Don Knotts, but while Jerry Lewis and Don Knotts had signature gestures, they moved on in their careers and did lots of different things and played different characters. Jim Carrey's goonish behaviour has only ever been justified in The Mask - I didn't like that film either. I actually felt sorry for Zooey Deschanel, she got to write and perform one of her quirky songs but for the rest of the film she simply stood next to Carrey's character, never really able to develop herself. Her character was fun and quirky because we were told she was fun and quirky, without being given the evidence. I felt bad for Terrance Stamp too, I hope he was paid handsomely for his performance, it's amazing just how many roles he has turned down over the years out of integrity, one can only assume he's broke or was misled. His character was also named Terrance, which I thought was strange. Was the character somehow based on the actor or where they unsure whether the audience would recognize him? I'm not sure I want to know the answer, I hope it was just coincidence. Thankfully Rhys Darby is funny no matter where or what he is doing, funny is in his bones and the film is only just watchable thanks to him. Bradley Cooper has a relatively large role in the film just before he became an A-lister but much like Deschanel he is left hanging on the sideline and it is never convincing that he and Carrey's character are the best of friends. I don't care much for Danny Wallace but his original book, based on his own actions, is nice and simple. This weird adaptation is brash and stupid. Wallace had the idea after when a stranger told him to say yes to everything while he was sitting on a bus. He then accepted credit card offers, solicitations on the Internet and accepted and acted upon leaflets that were handed to him - he even reluctantly joined a group that explored the link between alien life and ancient Egypt but as far as I know he didn't accept phalacio from an elderly neighbour. There were lots of funny and interesting things Wallace said yes to that could have featured but somehow oral pleasure from a pensioner was one of the first things that came into the writer's mind. If that is your idea of funny then you have just wasted your time reading my review but for me the film was like listening to someone scratch a chalkboard continuously for 104 minutes, although it felt longer. To make matter worse, Wallace (and his horrible hair) has a cameo.