Film Review--Yes Man

Yes Man
directed by Peyton Reed
written by Nicholas Stoller, Jarrad Paul, Andrew Mogel
starring Jim Carrey, Zooey Deschanel, Terence Stamp, Bradley Cooper, John Michael Higgins, Rhys Darby, Danny Masterson, Fionnula Flanagan, Molly Sims, Sasha Alexander

Billed as yet another excuse for Jim Carrey to jack up his lunatic maneuverings for the masses, this is actually a rather affecting film about loneliness and the abject fear of dying alone and miserable. It slices into the carcass of doubt and resignation and reveals ultimately a love story worth believing in.

Carl Allen (Carrey) is something of a grumpus. He’s been working a tiresome job at a bank for five years. His life is rather empty and he turns down nearly every effort to socialize. Indeed, he passes on every opportunity that comes his way and satisfies himself by staying home alone watching videos and ignoring the pleas of his friend Peter (Cooper) who wants to drag him out into the light. One day he is accosted by his friend Nick (Higgins) who introduces him to a seminar hosted by a man named Terrence Bundley (Stamp) that he claims changed his life. Carl begrudgingly makes his way to the seminar and is immediately shamed for being a “No Man”. Bundley abuses him and forces him to utter a word that has been foreign to him for quite some time. That word is, of course, “Yes” and thereafter Carl agrees to everything that presents itself.

Circumstances arise that lead Carl to his destiny. She is Allison (Deschanel), a rambunctious, adventurous girl who introduces Carl to a world he scarcely knew existed. He agrees to every proposition she makes and quickly morphs into a can-do man who is apt and seemingly interested in all that he apprehends. This is Carrey at his best. He possesses a thrilling energy that pushes the film forward and leads his character into novel territory that brings him out of himself at last. Carrey is fine here when he’s playing for actual emotions instead of the easy laughs he so often elicits by playing the rubber-faced fool. Fortunately in this film the histrionics are kept to a minimum and Carrey is allowed to act for once. He’s aging and the lunacy can only take him so far. Here he provides evidence that he has the capacity to present a more complex character who is filled with need and longing.

Allison is presented as a legitimate eccentric who sees the world through a unique prism. She is just the girl to bring Carl out of his shell and it’s convenient that he has simultaneously discovered a method of committing to chance occurrences he would normally ignore. He would never have met her if he were the old Carl who would not have put himself in a position to do so. Zooey Deschanel certainly provides a legitimate reason to stay fully engaged with this film. Her character adds a grounded sensibility that belies her off-kilter persona. Allison knows who she is and does pretty much what she wants to not because she feels she is compelled to by some wonky schemer who has tapped into a mass audience of gullible types who greedily want more of life’s pleasures to fall into their lap. Deschanel turns Allison into a lovely little minx who can be rather dangerous at times if one isn’t prepared to engage her fully. It’s the unpredictable nature of Allison that makes her so endearing and Deschanal provides her with a quiet intensity and a delectably intoxicating sensuality that she masks with nervousness and a touch of shyness.


The film’s attempted skewering of the self-help movement is tame but it still comes across in the character of Terrence Bundley. His over-the-top presentation mocks the intense and comical seriousness with which these types approach their particular panacea for solving all of life’s irritating inconsistencies. Bundley represents the legions of would-be gurus who imagine themselves as having discovered a method for creating a workable life plan that trumps any similar attempts in that field. Bundley is the only consistently amusing character in this film as Carrey pratfalls and other attempts at physical comedy just don’t possess the same magic they once did.

Jim Carrey is superbly suited for this type of role although it doesn’t offer the viewer any legitimate insight into the character’s motivations. All we learn is that Carl is a lonely bastard who has shunned the world after divorcing Stephanie (Sims). He has become socially phobic and rejects the world in order to dwell on his own pain. We don’t get much of an idea just how dreadful Carl’s outlook is as the film merely shows Carl alone in his apartment sleeping on the couch and watching films. This is supposed to be an indication that he is failing somehow just because he has chosen a path of isolation and disengagement. He is presented as lowly because he won’t interact with strangers at parties he knows instinctively drain his energy and offer him little in terms of incentives to further expand his social network. The “new” Carl is just a more manic version of the old model. He’s more prone to hysterics and exhibits himself much like a manic depressive who is experiencing a psychotic manic episode. By saying yes to everything he puts himself in harm’s way as someone could ask if they could cut off his head and based on his interpretation of the covenant he would have to allow such an act to occur.

The film takes a turn that leads to a realization which makes sense in the context of the film. It recognizes the traps in place for anyone who blindly follows any course without discerning the potential risks involved. It also allows that saying yes to everything blinds a person to their actual motivations and blurs their intent. Carl is a child who like Veruca Salt wants the world and wants it now. He spends the bulk of the film in a flurry of activity forced to march and unable to slow down long enough to make a rational decision regarding any choice he makes. His will to power is enslaved by a pet program that he is incapable of thwarting simply because he has convinced himself that he must obey it’s edicts no matter how he feels to the contrary. He subjects himself to experiences that he would, under normal circumstances, shy away from. Such a position lends itself to either growth or devastation.

Overall, this film is highly entertaining and contains performances that work well with the material. It’s light on the ballyhoo and gives Jim Carrey an opportunity to come off as a legitimate personality with emotions that feel real and necessary. At its core there is an old fashioned love story and the two leads work naturally together and make for a believable couple who play off each other considerably well. This is a couple that we want to see succeed. Much of this has to do with Zooey Deschanel’s work in this film. As always she is entirely delightful and thoroughly engaging from start to finish. Terrence Stamp plays the lunatic fringe effectively and his cult resonates throughout the picture. The film articulates the idea that blind subservience to any ideal can wreak havoc if one loses their ability to make up their own mind.