Film review: Yes Man

Yes Man @ IMDB

First things first, this film is based on a book by a guy called Danny Wallace who I don't really like. Not for any particular reason but here we go:

He co-wrote a book called Are You Dave Gorman? with the eponymous Dave Gorman. Now Gorman went on to create the genius Googlewhack Adventure whilst Danny Wallace didn't. He took the Gorman template (man going on crazy adventure/challenge) and ran with it a little too far. In an ideal world, the talented Gorman would go on to glory whilst the, let's be honest, copycat Wallace wouldn't.

Of course, this isn't an ideal world so whilst Gorman still ploughs his own path Wallace gets a movie deal. Go figure.

So really I wasn't looking forward to this film a great deal. Based on the book, we have Jim Carrey as a man (not Danny Wallace, thankfully) who decides to change his life and say yes to everything.

Now Jim Carrey is a tricky actor to pin down. With him you'll get one of three faces; Mr Wacky from Ace Ventura, Mr Smaltz from Liar Liar or Mr Actor from The Trueman Show and Eternal Sunshine. Ideally, he'd be the last one all the time as those are his best films, closely followed by Mr Wacky.

This film aims to combine all three. It's not 100% successful but it's not bad. Mr Actor is forced to the background a bit but this means Mr Wacky is reigned in so he's not annoying. Mr Smaltz rears his ugly head at the end but he's not there very long and it is a romantic comedy so you can forgive it.

The main thing is, this is a funny film. It hits the mark more often than not, there's great support around Charrey (the cameo by the manager of The Flight of the Conchords is a particular highlight) and it's nicely paced.

It's not the best comedy this year but it's certainly up there at the top of the list.

In a word? Positive.