Say Yes! But Comedy May Not Carrey
This blog takes place 1/5/2009...
Just saw Yes Man last night and have to say that Carrey has another winner here. Not as good as Liar Liar, I have yet to see a movie top that one for me. But definitely a movie that would seem suited for him, mixing both the extreme humor of Liar Liar and Bruce Almighty and the sensitivity of Truman Show and Majestic. Except in retrospect, the humor side may have needed work.
Playing Carl Allen, Jim Carrey is a bank loan manager stuck in a rut and boxed himself in to the point of hermithood, saying "no" to every event, query, or even opportunity. To the point where his iron curtain attitude botched his attendance of his best friend's engagement party. That's when Carl decides to do what he thought was crazy to do before. Say "yes".
Yes Man follows Carl on his journey of discovering the power of "yes", getting himself into everything from Persian Wife Finder dating service to a Harry Potter masquerade. But through it all he finds love and romance and has to see whether saying "yes" can be taken too far.
Zooey Deschanel (whom I later found again in SciFi's Tin Man mini-series, very cool DG there) is wonderful as Carl's love interest Allison and her quirkiness nicely contrasts Carl's desperate squareness turned avant garde adventurer.
The only thing I feel missing is that some things could have been taken farther as a comedy. The story overall is a touching allegory on what one should do with one's life, but the comedy seemed much more toned down.
The dog chase could have been taken further given Carrey's physicality but only showed him tripping and deciding to say yes when he had said no before. Maybe something more with the Persian wife could have been done, but she was only a fellow lunch guest cameo. The only times Carrey kind of lived it up was his tape face duel with his manager. And his overdose of Red Bull sequence. That's about it. (Though energy-wise, see him do DDR. ;p)
I don't know if that's deliberate on the director's part. I noticed that Tom Shadyac isn't helming this film. So maybe Carrey didn't have room to fully express himself. Instead the limelight shines more on his costars. From past acquaintance turned window breaker, the Yes Man philosopher himself, to Carl's nerdy manager, the side characters strut their stuff as if showing Carl what he's missing from life. Unfortunately, I don't think the film showed Carl truly take off. More afraid of the "covenant" that he made to become a Yes Man than truly embracing the concept of yes.
Even though the embracing and the covenant are significant plot points to understanding Carl's acceptance of his new life, the film focused more on what he did with it. Not that it's bad, that's where the fun is, but I ended up only seeing the covenant appearing a couple of times in the film. And Carl's mental anguish didn't surface until the point when he had to question whether his love interest is truly his love or just his Yes companion.
I think the problem I have with the film is that the filmmakers didn't know enough what to do with the comedy that is Jim Carrey. The film story itself is wonderful. As-is, I saw a well-crafted, believable tell-all of a square turning into a man. But Jim Carrey's energy does only show in sporadic spurts, as if the film didn't truly know what to do with it except to showcase it where it can. More weaving might have been needed.
So my personal feeling is that Yes Man is not the best vehicle for Jim Carrey's comedic talents, a little tight around the waist, but is a wonderful character piece.
I myself enjoyed the film. And say "yes" to anybody who wants to watch it. Just note that Yes Man Carrey may not live up to what you expect from him.
Just saw Yes Man last night and have to say that Carrey has another winner here. Not as good as Liar Liar, I have yet to see a movie top that one for me. But definitely a movie that would seem suited for him, mixing both the extreme humor of Liar Liar and Bruce Almighty and the sensitivity of Truman Show and Majestic. Except in retrospect, the humor side may have needed work.
Playing Carl Allen, Jim Carrey is a bank loan manager stuck in a rut and boxed himself in to the point of hermithood, saying "no" to every event, query, or even opportunity. To the point where his iron curtain attitude botched his attendance of his best friend's engagement party. That's when Carl decides to do what he thought was crazy to do before. Say "yes".
Yes Man follows Carl on his journey of discovering the power of "yes", getting himself into everything from Persian Wife Finder dating service to a Harry Potter masquerade. But through it all he finds love and romance and has to see whether saying "yes" can be taken too far.
Zooey Deschanel (whom I later found again in SciFi's Tin Man mini-series, very cool DG there) is wonderful as Carl's love interest Allison and her quirkiness nicely contrasts Carl's desperate squareness turned avant garde adventurer.
The only thing I feel missing is that some things could have been taken farther as a comedy. The story overall is a touching allegory on what one should do with one's life, but the comedy seemed much more toned down.
The dog chase could have been taken further given Carrey's physicality but only showed him tripping and deciding to say yes when he had said no before. Maybe something more with the Persian wife could have been done, but she was only a fellow lunch guest cameo. The only times Carrey kind of lived it up was his tape face duel with his manager. And his overdose of Red Bull sequence. That's about it. (Though energy-wise, see him do DDR. ;p)
I don't know if that's deliberate on the director's part. I noticed that Tom Shadyac isn't helming this film. So maybe Carrey didn't have room to fully express himself. Instead the limelight shines more on his costars. From past acquaintance turned window breaker, the Yes Man philosopher himself, to Carl's nerdy manager, the side characters strut their stuff as if showing Carl what he's missing from life. Unfortunately, I don't think the film showed Carl truly take off. More afraid of the "covenant" that he made to become a Yes Man than truly embracing the concept of yes.
Even though the embracing and the covenant are significant plot points to understanding Carl's acceptance of his new life, the film focused more on what he did with it. Not that it's bad, that's where the fun is, but I ended up only seeing the covenant appearing a couple of times in the film. And Carl's mental anguish didn't surface until the point when he had to question whether his love interest is truly his love or just his Yes companion.
I think the problem I have with the film is that the filmmakers didn't know enough what to do with the comedy that is Jim Carrey. The film story itself is wonderful. As-is, I saw a well-crafted, believable tell-all of a square turning into a man. But Jim Carrey's energy does only show in sporadic spurts, as if the film didn't truly know what to do with it except to showcase it where it can. More weaving might have been needed.
So my personal feeling is that Yes Man is not the best vehicle for Jim Carrey's comedic talents, a little tight around the waist, but is a wonderful character piece.
I myself enjoyed the film. And say "yes" to anybody who wants to watch it. Just note that Yes Man Carrey may not live up to what you expect from him.