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The stretch in "Yes Man" isn't Jim Carrey bungee-jumping. Yes, that's the actor (not a stuntman) swan-diving off a bridge and swinging, swaying and dangling upside down.
The stretch is Carrey at the beginning of the movie, when he has to dial down the smile, the enthusiasm, the zaniness to play divorced and dateless Carl Allen, a junior loan officer at a bank who dodges friends, co-workers and even phone calls from unknown numbers.
Get this -- Carl actually prefers to sit at home on the couch and watch DVDs, and in this case, there is something wrong with that since it's meant he has cocooned himself into a lonely life.
One day, he runs into a former colleague who presses a brochure on him and encourages him to "Live your life, you won't regret it." He goes to a self-help seminar where he vows to say yes instead of his reflexive no ... to everything.
- Starring: Jim Carrey, Zooey Deschanel.
- Rating: PG-13 for crude sexual humor, language and brief nudity.
- Web site:'Yes Man'
Once yes becomes the new no, Carl finds romance, serendipitous success on the job and happiness, although as in all stories such as this, the giddy good fortune looks like it may come to an end.
"Yes Man" is based on the book of the same name by the Scottish-born Danny Wallace, who had a chance encounter on a London bus with a stranger who advised, "Say yes more." That inspired the spontaneous adventures he calls yes-capades and, eventually, his memoir about winning money, becoming a TV executive, minister, inventor, world traveler and, finally, fiance.
The most ingenious element of "Yes Man" is how Carl's string of odd, random affirmative decisions turn into a disastrous daisy chain. I didn't see that coming, although I saw much of everything else -- and, in the case of a randy white-haired neighbor, too much.
Carrey is to "Yes Man" what Vince Vaughn is to "Four Christmases." He is tap-dancing and trying as hard as he can, with a little help from Zooey Deschanel as his free-spirited girlfriend, and delightful New Zealander Rhys Darby (from HBO's "Flight of the Conchords") as his boss, who likes to throw costumed theme parties.
"Yes Man," directed by Peyton Reed ("Bring It On," "Down With Love" and "The Break-Up") and adapted by a trio of writers, is more inspirational than funny. Whatever success it achieves is due to Carrey's appeal and, like his character, willingness to do anything.
Its message about not hiding away from life is a good one, although maybe it's a subliminal one for moviegoers who want to make like Carl and lounge around at home watching DVDs.
