Yes Man - Another Jim Carrey Fundraiser
Yes, Jim Carrey sleepwalks through another zany comedy. Are you ready for the wackiness? At the risk of making this review anti-climactic I’m going tell you right now that I did not really care for Yes Man. However, let me qualify that with a story that explains why you should never trust my professional judgment when it comes to Jim Carrey.
First, since I don’t currently get paid for offering judgments about Jim Carrey, that should be a dead giveaway right there. However, this anecdote should tell you all you need to know:
In the early 1990s, I thought Jim Carrey was the funniest white guy on television. In Living Color was a great show and he almost never failed to add an insane touch to it.
I was stoked when the trailers for the first Ace Venture movie came out. It looked like just the type of wacked out movie that would be a perfect vehicle for him. So one fine evening in 1994 my wife and I headed to the cinema to see Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. We were young, silly, just out of college. The world was our toast and Jim Carrey being a movie star was going to be the butter (okay, a little over the top). To make a short story even shorter, I hated it.
I thought Ace Ventura: Pet Detective was awful. As we left the theater, five words came out of my mouth that turned out to be the 5 most wrong words I have ever uttered in my entire life. I turned to my wife and said “Jim Carrey’s career is over.”
It’s not often that an off-hand comment made while coming out of a film is something you remember saying vividly for the next 14 years, but in this case, how could I forget making this prediction?
So with that out of the way, let me say, that yes, I was wrong. I still stand by my judgment of Ace Ventura. In spite of that, Mr. Carrey has actually gone on to make a number of above average films, as well as a few truly incredible ones.
Let me pretty much wrap Yes Man into a nice package for you. I can often enjoy a comedy that overall isn’t really very good, but makes me laugh enough times or endears me enough to the characters to make it worthwhile. Yes Man is not one of those films. My chuckle factor in it was exactly ONE. I laughed once. It was a good gag, and I enjoyed it. The other 1 hour and 43 and a half minutes though were pretty downright bland.
Sure we had the occasional cute one-liners. Zooey Deschanel, who I find very attractive and charming is always pleasing to watch on screen, and that dude from That 70s Show played a supporting role. Did I mention Terrence “KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!” Stamp had a nice little part? Unfortunately, it still added up to the fact that movie is just not that funny. Carrey pretty much phones in his standard “zaney” performance, though this time a bit more subdued.
It’s absolutely the most standard paint-by-numbers screwball comedy you can get.
Movies have come a long way in the past 20 years. When tickets were 4 or 5 bucks a pop, tossing down a few dollars for a film that is simply a pleasant distraction wasn’t so bad. When I was younger, spending an afternoon at the cinema was usually time well spent for a meager amount of cash even if the films were average. When you’re paying almost $10.00 a pop for tickets though, this is not the kind of film that we deserve to have to sit through.
I couldn’t milk enough entertainment value out of this movie to really justify sitting through it. I’m not even sure it’s a worth your time on cable – well, there is the Zooey Deschanel factor again. She rocks.
Now that I’ve finished picking on Jim Carrey, I’m sure that Yes Man will make him enough cash that he can get back to doing his more meaty roles, basically these are the movies that pay for Carrey’s mansions so he can take some time to pick a real script. If you’re really in the mood to see what Jim Carrey can do this weekend, here’s my recommendation on better well spent Carrey money. First, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Arguably his best role and the best film he’s ever done. It’s definitely one of the best screenplay’s he’s ever gotten his chops into.
Also, no Jim Carrey marathon can be complete with out The Truman Show. Fantastic work. Looking for more obscure? His arguably Oscar-snubbed portrayal of Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon was terrific, if the movie itself was a bit uneven. If you’re looking for balls-to-the-wall zany Carrey at his best, I have to have Dumb and Dumber on the list. Ridiculous film, but it stands the test of time. I like it. Of course, The Mask is quite tasty as well if for no other reason than for his rendition of Cuban Pete.
So, fill your life with Jim Carrey this weekend if you must, but you can do a much more enjoyable job of it at home rather than dropping two fives down on Yes Man. You can probably buy or rent all the films I mentioned above for the cost of one ticket and popcorn for Yes Man.
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Tags: Movie Reviews
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4 Responses to “Yes Man - Another Jim Carrey Fundraiser”
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December 20th, 2008 at 9:53 am
“Zooey Deschanel, who I find very attractive and charming is always pleasing to watch on screen…”
You haven’t seen The Happening, have you?
December 20th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Nope, I gave up on M. about 30 minutes before the end of The Village.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:44 am
Yeah, well you’ll change that opinion if you were to ever see The Happening.
December 21st, 2008 at 1:22 pm
I’ll avoid The Happening. I saw it in the DVD bargain bin this morning at BEST BUY, and I specifically didn’t pick it up again. Granted, I’ve only seen ZD in comedies. Just watched her again in ELF last night. I’m still 100% open to her staying with me this weekend and fixing me a cheese sandwich.