I have mixed feelings about Jim Carrey. When he’s good, he’s really quite good, but when he’s bad I’d rather remove my eyes than watch him. I can’t stand Cable Guy, and I think Bruce Almighty and Fun with Dick and Jane are two of the laziest ‘comedy’ creations I have ever seen. I tell you this to give you context when I say Yes Man is the good kind of Carrey.
Jim is sad sack Carl Allen, one of life’s losers, who gives his life a make-over after being convinced by Terrence Stamp that he should say ‘yes’ to everything. Suddenly opportunity, fist fights, Korean lessons and love abound. Yes, it’s kind of a one-joke movie, but they manage to make that joke last almost to the end. There’s a definite fade in the back third.
Carrey is in his best slapstick form, with a touch of the Sad Clown persona that he embraced in The Truman Show. He works hard to find the funny in as many scenarios as possible, while emitting a goofy, childish glee that invites the audience to join in the fun. The support cast does good work – a range of television’s vaguely recognisable faces frolic across the screen with abandon (he was in Alias, she quit NCIS, that one did That 70′s Show, her show Las Vegas just got cancelled, but he’s on the up thanks to Flight of the Conchords). Rhys Darby achieves the remarkable feat of stealing every scene he shares with Carrey.
Zooey Deschanel is charming as the love interest, and suitably quirky. She also manages to look far, far too young for the rapidly ageing Carrey. Fortunately, their moments together are sweet, rather than gratuitous (which is more than I can say for a sequence involving an elderly neighbour).
It’s good, fun, easy viewing for a night out with friends. I wouldn’t call it vintage Carrey (that exalted position is reserved for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Lemony Snicket, Ace Ventura, and his voice work in Horton Hears a Who), I’d call it solid Carrey. I suspect it will be one of the films with the broadest appeal this summer, though it’s most definitely not for children. In the early stages it even shrugs off predictability, before embracing it like an old friend and ultimately running out of puff.
