Yes Man

Yes Man (Jim Carrey, Zooey Deschanel) –Jim Carrey has meant big box office ever since Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.  And while his then-record string of opening week #1 hits fell several movies ago as he tried projects well beyond the safe and narrow “gas out your butt” comedies (The Truman Show, Man on the Moon, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) that made him a movie legend, he has always done well when returning to flat-out comedy.  Yes Man is just such a return and stunned some movie mavens when his latest project beat out the biggest-star-in-the-world Will Smith’s Seven Pounds the weekend before Christmas (even if the box office numbers were down due to bad weather nationwide).  Reminiscent of Liar Liar but not as engaging (and without Maura Tierney), Yes Man bears the same premise as Liar Liar, but replaces lies for always saying “no.”  So, the bank loan officer, Carl Allen, who always says no and leads an empty existence attends a seminar (more like a EST meeting or a revival) led by a hot book author (played by perfect bad guy and evil-doer Terrence Stamp) selling the concept of “YES.”  He tries it — reluctantly at first and more enthusiastically at second — and good things start to happen, including a woman (Zooey Deschanel); an old woman (Irish actress Fionnula Flanaganin in a gross, if memorable, scene; and at work.  On the surface, this movie has to go nowhere, which it does.  It then has to end, which it does of course but, thankfully, without the overly contrived ending.  Well, it is contrived because he had to lose the girl before he gets her back but it doesn’t grate like Four Christmases did.  And it’s not a true chick flick either, which at least means it’s a cut above the rest.  And it’s perfect for a holiday season bereft of many holiday comedies and full of itself in terms of the release of all of the serious Oscar contenders for the year.