Yes Man

Unless he had all his money in junk bonds, Jim Carrey is a very rich man. Why, then, did he make this movie? To remind us he's still alive? If that's the case, "Yes Man" is a failure. He has never seemed deader.

Too harsh, maybe. We like Carrey. We like him because he needs to be liked. So can we like him in his latest movie?

Yyyy . . . no. Even though Carrey is a bit mellower these days, the schtick feels dated. He's doing material from the '90s. In a comedy era ennobled by the crackling wit of Vince Vaughn, Steve Carell and Tina Fey, "Yes Man" comes across as innocent, quaint, pitiable, as one-note as borscht belt humor and not committed enough to support great slapstick. "Yes Man" doesn't have a plot; it has a premise. What if someone never says no? Will his life improve by 1,000 percent?

Yes. And that's it. There's no more to "Yes Man" than that. Open yourself up to experiences, and your life will burst into confetti and you will meet and fall in love with Zooey Deschanel, one-half of Hollywood's two-person cadre of raspy-voiced, blue-eyed brunettes who specialize in deadpan (the other being Catherine Keener).

Is there anything good about "Yes Man"?

Yes. Terence Stamp, the lion-faced Brit, plays the self-help guru who converts Carrey into a yes man. But when it comes to "Yes Man" there is only one word. You know it, and sometimes it is worth saying.

-- Dan Zak (Dec. 19, 2008)

Contains crude sexual humor, language and brief nudity.