Yes Man

When Jim Carrey picks the right material he’s hard to beat. This script is pretty good, though it lacks something in the conflict department. The premise: He’s detached from life, in a dead-end job, his wife has left him, he’s always saying no to any invitation or opportunity life offers him. A self-help guru convinces him that what he has to do is say yes! He agrees to say yes! to anything that comes along. Naturally, at first this leads to him being taken advantage of, but not much is made of this, probably wisely. He buys a lot of rounds of drinks, a layabout friend moves in and Jim has to do his laundry, and so forth. The fun comes when by saying yes!, he opens himself to interesting situations and people. There is some truth in this. In my life, I’ve found myself in some wonderful places and met some wonderful people by simply letting life buffet me about as randomly as possible, essentially saying yes! (I’ve also found myself in disasters, but I believe disasters will find you no matter what you do, no matter how responsible you are or how carefully you make plans, so deal with it!)

This isn’t quite on a par with a similar concept used in what I consider a minor masterpiece, Liar Liar, where he was a lawyer who could not tell a lie (just writing that makes me laugh!), but it’s still fun. And it’s got Zooey Deschanel, who I love to look at. And it’s shot around Los Angeles and has many locations we are familiar with, including the beloved Observatory, and a bar called the Bigfoot Lounge that we pass by at least once a week on our way to Costco. (We love Costco.)