“And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself” isn’t just a line from “A Visit from St. Nicholas” — it’s how I felt about Jim Carrey’s performance in the new comedy “Yes Man.” Having been annoyed by his antics in many of his recent outings — take “Fun with Dick and Jane,” please — the world-class mugger dials it down and delights in this breezy (if somewhat formulaic) flick.
Carrey stars as Carl, a guy whose life has gone into a deep, deep rut since his wife dumped him years ago. (Not for nothing is Journey’s “Separate Ways” his ringtone.) After he’s passed over for a promotion and his best friend Peter (Bradley Cooper) chides him for disengaging from life, Carl takes another pal’s advice and attends a self-help seminar that encourages him to start saying “yes” to life — literally. At the seminar, he makes a covenant to say yes to every request that comes his way.
At first, it looks like his new positivity will lead him to disaster, as he gives a homeless guy a lift that leaves him with an empty gas tank and a dead cell-phone battery. But at the gas station, he has a meet-cute with the free-spirited Allison (Zooey Deschanel), which leads Carl to think there might be something to all this “yes” business after all.
Before long, he’s learning how to fly a plane, play guitar and speak Korean while he and Allison bond over their mutual sense of adventure. Will she still love him when she finds out that he’s just saying yes to life as part of a self-help program?
Granted, you won’t be biting your nails in suspense over the outcome, but “Yes Man” (based on Danny Wallace’s memoir) sets up lots of pitfalls that it deftly avoids. Deschanel’s Allison is lively and open to new experiences, but she never feels like one of those “kooky,” loud-hat-wearing Hollywood creations we’ve seen in a million movies, in spite of her cutesy scooter helmet. Carl’s neighbor Tilly (Fionnula Flanagan) is a sexy senior citizen, but she’s never the butt of the joke, since young men start clamoring for her favors. Even Carl’s ex-wife (Molly Sims) avoids winding up as the shrew or vamp you might expect from a lazier batch of screenwriters.
It’s these little moments of avoiding the obvious that made me forgive “Yes Man” its occasional forays into cliche. Any movie that throws in a random musical number featuring Luis Guzman can’t be all bad, right?
Whether it’s the script, the strong supporting cast (which also includes John Michael Higgins, Terence Stamp and “Flight of the Conchords” co-star Rhys Darby) or the direction by Peyton Reed, Carrey gives one of his loosest and least oppressive performances in recent memory. He gives Carl a wonderfully acrid sarcasm in the early scenes only to blossom into a charming romantic lead who never overdoes the rubber-faced shtick.
Yes. Really.