Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.

Let me be clear right up front. I will always, always be grateful to director Peyton Reed for making BRING IT ON, one of the finest cheerleader tease films in recent memory. Reed also made the very funny Vince Vaughn/Jennifer Aniston work THE BREAK UP, but really, it's BRING IT ON that solidifies him as a filmmaker of quality and integrity. Ahem. So when I say that his latest work, the Jim Carrey vehicle YES MAN doesn't live up the high standards that Reed set for himself with his 2000 masterpiece, you understand what I'm saying. But even ignoring that comparison (and how could you, really?), YES MAN is largely a disappointment.

I won't lie and say I didn't laugh, because I did a few times. Carrey throws every silly voice, weird body contortion and goofy face he possesses into this performance as bank loan officer Carl Allen, who decides his passionless life is wrecking his friendships and sending his life spiraling toward a very dark and unhappy place. Since his divorce three years earlier, he has avoided as many forms of human contact as he can, even with his best friends. When he is dragged to a motivational speech delivered with hilarious flair by Terence Stamp, playing a positivity guru who believes his followers should say 'Yes' to every opportunity that comes their way, Carl takes this to heart and begins literally answering every request from anyone and everyone in the affirmative. If this is beginning to sound like a one-joke premise, you've noticed early on the film's deepest problem.

Despite a few missteps, saying yes to everything seems to work out pretty well for our hero. He meets a sweet, eccentric Allison (Zooey Deschanel), who falls for Carl's passion for life. He doesn't bother to tell her about his recently acquired philosophy of life, and of course, this comes back to haunt him when things start to get serious between the two. In fact, it's this little plot element that typifies the problems I had with this movie. Carl tells everyone about his "say yes" way of life except Allison. Why? Because if he did, the story couldn't move forward, and it sets up the inevitable conflict between them toward the end of the movie. The entire film is designed this way. Characters are introduced for the sole purpose of moving the story forward and not because they are particularly interesting or worth getting to know in any way.

Here's an example. Carl has a neighbor named Tillie, an older woman played by the great Irish actress Fionnula Flanagan, who has a bit of a libido. Prior to adopting his new 'Yes' philosophy, Carl easily rejects her advances without too much trouble. Guess what happens later in the film? It's bad enough that this great actress is reduced to the worst kind of cliché, but the character literally serves one purpose that is telescoped from the opening minutes of the story. The same can be said for the character of Carl's nerdy boss Norman (played by New Zealand actor Rhys Darby from "Flight of the Conchords"), whose awkward attempts at palling around with Carl are rejected initially. But once the transformation happens, hilarity ensues. The entire film is this mild form of torture, with every comic moment, conflict and plot turn so obviously predictable that it actually hurt my brain.

I know what you're thinking: It's a Jim Carrey movie; what the hell do you expect? The sad answer is: Not much. Let's be honest: with his comedies of late, Carrey has been coasting, building up a head of steam (and fistfuls of cash) so he can try something out of the ordinary (THE NUMBER 23; LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS; THE MAJESTIC; ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND). As you can see, most of these non-traditional efforts were not successful or even very good (ETERNAL SUNSHINE being the standout exception), and so Carrey gets pigeon holed into works like YES MAN. He knows he can be funny in these sort of vehicles, but that doesn't make them any less of a struggle to sit through. I don't mean to imply that this film is as torturous as FUN WITH DICK AND JANE; it's certainly not. And while I did laugh a few times at YES MAN, I just didn't find the experience of watching it all that fulfilling. If you are someone who doesn't mind shutting down your brain to watch a film, you could do worse, I suppose, but don't make it a habit.

-- Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com