Review: Yes Man

*Warning: Spoilers alert.

Imagine, if you will, a life where every time a question is asked of you and whenever an opportunity presents itself, your answer is 'Yes' and only 'Yes'. No 'Maybe', no 'Perhaps', definitely no 'No', just a simple 'Yes' or an 'Ok'.

"Would you like to learn to play the guitar?" - Yes

"Do you want to learn to fly a plane?" - Yes

"Can you approve my business loan to sell fertilizer?" - YES

"How would you like to find your true love on Persianwife.com?" - YES

"Do you want to join me for a 6 a.m. jog and photo session?" - YES

"Are you coming to my 'Harry Potter' costume party?" - YES

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="180" caption="Jim Carrey in 'Yes Man'"][/caption]

Well, that's the life of Carl Allen, played by Jim Carrey, in his newest comedy, Yes Man. A lonely and dejected man, Carl says no to almost everything and anything that comes his way, not even able to generate any enthusiasm or energy to meet up with his best friends. One day, an old friend introduced Carl to the 'Yes' program and after a very realistic albeit funny/crazy nightmare, Carl finally got off his butt to attend the seminar and, to quote Carl, 'The era of "yes" has begun.'

It's been a while since I laughed so much watching a movie and it's also been a while since Jim Carrey made a really good comedy (the last funny one that I remember is 'Fun with Dick and Jane' but I didn't laugh as much as I did with this new film). Roughly an hour and 40 minutes long, the film flows effortlessly from beginning to end with only a few minor scenes being boring or uneventful. You'll get caught up in the many situations the character finds himself in and you'll be surprised at how everything he has done with 'Yes' comes back to help him later on, from saving a suicidal man with his recently-learnt guitar playing to engaging the help of a rude saleswoman with his raw Korean. It just goes to show that you'll never know which skills you learn and which people you meet will prove useful in life.

As usual, a comedy movie of life filled with so much ups and downs should include a woman and Carl is no exception, meeting up with an interesting girl as soon as he started saying 'Yes' to everything. However, saying 'yes' all the time to everything doesn't keep one out of trouble as Carl soon found out. Held under arrest, accused of being a terrorist, losing his new love interest and ending up in a hospital, Carl discovered that one should say 'yes' even when one doesn't want to, but one should also use common sense in when to say 'yes'.

For Malaysian viewers, let me warn you now that there are some censored scenes, not much, not major, but there are some. The most obvious, and one that would definitely be missed for those who don't get it, is the motorcycle action scene near the end of the movie. The scene that was cut was just a short one showing Jim Carrey's butt. It's not essential to the plot but it's a funny one. :-D Another noticeable thing about this movie is the many references to popular films, such as '300', 'Transformers', 'Saw' and 'Harry Potter'. I'm unsure as to why the editors paid so much screen time to other movies (perhaps they were made by the same production company or something?) but you'll definitely notice it.

Yes Man is truly an enjoyable movie and I recommend you to watch it with your friends and family, not just with your spouse or girlfriend/boyfriend. It's just what you need to cheer you up or to relax you after a hard day's work. I was so engrossed with the plot that I hardly noticed the numerous goofs in the film (shame on this screen studies student). Oh, before I forget, do bring a bottle of water; the amount of laughter you'll be doing will definitely have you coughing and in need of liquid for your parched yet happy throat. Enjoy!! :-D