movie coverI'd rather be watching TV![IMDB link] [Netflix link] [Wikipedia link]

LIMERICK REVIEW: There once was a man who said, “No,”
every single damn place he would go.
He pledged to only say “Yes”;
And of course made a huge mess…
Lacking judgment can be quite a formidable foe.

HAIKU REVIEW: Saying “no” to things…
Stops opportunity dead.
Let’s give “yes” a chance.

PEOPLE: Jim Carrey. Zooey Deschanel (soooo cute… she was also in Bridge To Terabithia, Weeds, Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy [as Trillian], and wrote one of the songs in The Sarah Silverman Program). Danny Masterson (aka Hyde from That 70’s Show).

QUIRKS: The entire movie is a quirk. Like many Jim Carrey (or Adam Sandler) movies, it’s a framework for a gimmick: Guy who always says NO decides to always say YES — to everything. Then again, it’s based on Danny Wallace‘s real experience of saying “Yes” to everything for a year, and recording the results.

OBSCURITY: Trivial, but: I noticed the cover to the excellent psychological horror film “May” in the video store Jim Carrey was in at the beginning. It was the only movie cover I recognized. But what we DIDN’T recognize or hear was “Ana Ng” by They Might Be Giants, which was listed in the credits.

VISUALS: Well… There’s Zooey :) I could look at her all day :)

And… that really was Jim Carrey bungee jumping? He is very good at looking like a lifeless dummy. And when he bumped into the waitress — he broke 3 ribs in real life. That’s some dedication. And yes, he really learned basic Korean too.

MORALS: Be careful not to say no to life(-life-life).

BAD STUFF: It becomes more of a romance movie near the end. Like many of these “full of heart” movies.

In fact, this movie is so full of heart, that if it were a cadaver, they would have opened it up, shoved 62 other hearts inside of it, injected with with methamphetamine, sewed it back up, and defibrillated it repeatedly with the tasers of 1,000 angry policemen cracking down on anarchist protesters.

GOOD STUFF: Because Jim Carrey is such a funny guy, the movie is a lot funnier than it would have been without him. His boss was such a dweeb. And the demonstrated sheepism of the motivational speaker crowd was quite funny — and a good example of how sheeple sheepish  people are in real life. The “Yes Man Cult” was more or less a cult of personality.

CONCLUSION: 4/5 stars on Netflix, 7.5/10 on IMDB (Carolyn gives it an 8/10 on IMDB). Despite being a contrived attempt to pull our emotional strings about life(-life-life) — they nonetheless succeed in making a quite moving movie nonetheless.

RECOMMENDATION: I’d really recommend this movie to anyone. It has laughs, romance, philosophy. Jim Carrey always adds +1 to the IMDB rating of any movie he’s in. Some people might find it too overt and gimmicky — but here in Clarolyntopiastan, we love a good gimmick premise!

SIMILAR MOVIES: Click (the movie) with Adam Sandler is probably the most similar movie to this. This is like a more lighthearted Click. One that wont make you cry and regret not being nice in the past.

Critics say it’s too close to Liar Liar, but this wasn’t about telling the truth!  At all! In fact, MOST of the time that he said Yes to things, he WAS lying! He didn’t really want to do them! He was just following the covenant he agreed to to always say Yes to everything. Even if it’s not true or against his real desires.

MOVIE QUOTE: Allison: “The world’s a playground. You know that when you are a kid, but somewhere along the way everyone forgets it.”

COINCIDENCES: Jim Carrey and Zooey Descahnel both have the same birthday! But Carrey is 18 years older.

Mood: full of chicken tikka masala
Music: Church Of The SubGenius – Hour Of Slack #1197