Jim Carrey returns to the big screen after an extended hiatus from comedy with his latest offering Yes Man. The film harks back to Carrey’s glory days of slapstick comedy but unfortunately, due to strange casting and an uneven script it’s an underwhelming experience.
Carrey plays Carl Allen, a lonely loser who is in a depressive rut in all areas of his life. After being forced to attend a self-help seminar, he decides to make a pact with himself and say “yes” to everything and everyone. Hilarity ensues and along the way, he meets the beautiful Zooey Deschanel and as can be expected falls in love and learns a valuable life lesson.
You would be forgiven to think you had heard this plot line before because the film is very similar in tone to Liar, Liar, life lesson and all. The tone is slightly different with less broad comedy as the years have not been kind to Mr. Carrey.
Anyone who was a teenager during the 90s experienced first hand the comic revelation that was Carrey. With films like Ace Ventura, The Mask and Dumb and Dumber the man was undoubtedly the king of comedy for a few years. Then, as is too common the case, he decided to branch out with varied results. The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind were brilliant whereas I’m still not over the atrocity of The Majestic and Number 23. In Yes Man, Carrey attempts to relive the glory days with unfortunate results.
The first problem is that Carrey has aged substantially since we last saw him. He does not look like the early 20s wild man of yesteryear but resembles the 46 year old man he has become. This quickly converts his comedy from outrageous to almost embarrassing in an inappropriate dad joke sort of way. Unfortunately rather than incorporate his age into the script they have cast every major role with actors around the late 20s mark. This makes all the major relationships in the film seem unconvincing.
The movie is by no means boring but there are few sparse laughs, not a good sign for a comedy. The highlights include the brilliant Rhys Darby basically just being Murray from Flight of the Conchords, hilarity and all and Deschanel who is beautiful to look at but she continues to struggle finding decent roles especially after The Happening.
Yes Man is entertaining and has random moments of amusement but is a far cry from the best that Carry has had to offer.