Robert, 04/08/2009
Originally a book based on a true story by (and about) Danny Wallace, Yes Man accounts the life of a man who says no to life, but then attends a conference that changes him.
The storyline deviates slightly from the book. For one thing, the film is set in America, whereby the book's central location is London. Events leading from a "Yes" are different from the book. And the conference is unheard of (originally it was a stranger on a double decker bus). So, basically, most of the core parts of the film deviate from the book, but the ideas behind it remain true.
The film is clearly a comedy, and this is also reflected in the book. Although a lot of the events deviated slightly from the book, the film didn't quite feel like a betrayal to the original storyline as normally expected. In fact, this "brand new" film was refreshing whilst keeping the humour that originally was intended. Both clever and stupid jokes were incorporated to keep laughter from dying. Jim Carrey (Carl Allen) played an excellent lead, balancing comedy with romance without too much of the clichéd annoyances associated with romantic comedies - appreciated as this was a comedy with a touch of romantic mishap. Zooey Deschanel (Allison) played a fantastic "alternative" girl that would be far from the typical character that works well as a direct contrast to Carl. This helps emphasize the boundary Carl had to get over by saying "Yes" to anything and everything (said without sounding too pretentious... but it's true! I guess...)
All in all, a fantastic movie if you want a good laugh. It also can be very life-changing. I too have started to say "Yes" to a lot more opportunities (not necessarily everything) and it has worked wonders!
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