Yes Man

Yes Man
Film poster
Directed by	Peyton Reed
Produced by	David Heyman Richard D. Zanuck
Written by	Screenplay: Nicholas Stoller Jarrad Paul Andrew Mogel Book: Danny Wallace
Starring	Jim Carrey Zooey Deschanel Bradley Cooper John Michael Higgins Rhys Darby Danny Masterson
Music by	Lyle Workman Mark Oliver Everett They Might Be Giants
Cinematography	Robert D. Yeoman
Editing by	Craig Alpert
Studio	Village Roadshow Pictures The Zanuck Company Heyday Films
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	December 19, 2008 (US, ES) December 26, 2008 (UK) January 1, 2009 (AU) January 21, 2009 (FR)
Running time	104 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$70 million
Gross revenue	$301,455,191[1]

Yes Man is a 2008 American comedy film directed by Peyton Reed, written by Nicholas Stoller, Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel and starring Jim Carrey, Zooey Deschanel, Bradley Cooper, John Michael Higgins and Rhys Darby. The film is based loosely on the true story and 2005 book Yes Man by British humourist Danny Wallace (who has a cameo appearance in the film).

The film was a box office success despite receiving mixed reviews from critics. It was released on December 19, 2008, opening at #1 at the box office in its first weekend with $18.3 million and was then released on December 26, 2008 in the United Kingdom going straight to the top of the box office in its first weekend after release. Production for the film began in October 2007 in Los Angeles, CA.

Plot

Los Angeles bank employee Carl Allen (Jim Carrey) has become withdrawn and depressed since his divorce from ex-wife Stephanie (Molly Sims). Routinely ignoring his friends, he has grown used to spending his spare time watching DVDs alone in his apartment, and has developed a negative outlook on life. But when a friend persuades him to attend the "Yes!" motivational seminar, inspirational guru Terrence Bundley (Terence Stamp) publicly browbeats him into making a covenant with himself. Carl reluctantly promises to stop being a "No Man" and vows to answer "Yes!" to every opportunity, request or invitation that presents itself thereafter.

After the seminar, saying "yes" to a homeless man's requests only leaves Carl stranded in Elysian Park with his phone battery dead and his gas tank empty. Disillusioned, he hikes to a gas station where he meets Allison (Zooey Deschanel), an unorthodox young woman who rides a scooter. She gives him a hair-raising ride back to his car, and spontaneously kisses him before she rides off.

After this positive experience, Carl seizes every opportunity that comes his way. He takes flying lessons, attends Korean language classes, learns to play the guitar, and even joins a Persian dating website. Saying "yes" constantly works to Carl's advantage. He earns a promotion at work after his many approved loans open new territory for the bank in the area of microcredit. Making use of his guitar lessons, he plays Third Eye Blind's song "Jumper" to persuade a man (Luis Guzman) not to commit suicide by jumping off a ledge. Accepting concert tickets from a promoter, he sees an idiosyncratic band whose lead singer turns out to be Allison. He is charmed by her quirkiness; she is charmed by his spontaneity; and the two begin dating.

As their relationship blossoms, Carl and Allison meet at the airport for a spontaneous weekend excursion. Having decided to take the first plane out of town, no matter where its destination, they end up in Lincoln, Nebraska, where they explore the Frank H. Woods Telephone Museum, attend a college football game, and go skeet shooting. As they shelter from the rain in an isolated barn, Allison asks Carl to move in with her. He hesitantly agrees. But while checking in for the return flight, Carl is detained by FBI agents, who have profiled him as potential terrorist because he has taken flying lessons, studied Korean, approved a loan to a fertilizer company, met an Iranian mail-order bride, and bought plane tickets at the last minute.

Carl's lawyer and best friend Pete travels to Nebraska to explain Carl's odd habits, lessons, and decisions. As she finds out about Carl's motivational covenant, Allison begins to doubt whether his commitment to her was ever sincere. Deciding that she can no longer trust a man who is obliged always to respond in the affirmative, regardless of his true feelings, Allison leaves Carl at the airport and refuses to return his phone calls.

Soon afterward, Carl receives a tearful phone call from his ex-wife Stephanie, whose new partner has walked out on her. When Carl goes to Stephanie's apartment to comfort her, she kisses him passionately and asks whether they can get back together. After Carl emphatically says "no," his luck takes a turn for the worse. The elevator in which he tries to leave Stephanie's building almost snaps free of its cable, a black cat crosses his path, and his car gets clamped and towed.

Carl goes to the convention center where the "Yes!" seminar is held, and hides in the backseat of Bundley's convertible so that he can beg to be released from the covenant. Carl emerges as Bundley drives off, and the startled Bundley collides with an oncoming vehicle. The two are taken to hospital. After Carl recovers consciousness, an irate Bundley tells Carl that there was no "covenant." The point was merely to open Carl's mind to other possibilities, not to take away his ability to say "no" if he needed to.

Freed from this restraint, Carl finds Alison and admits that he does not want to move in with her just yet, but tells her that he genuinely loves and wants her—and has not been with her just because he has been compelled to say "yes". The couple kiss passionately.

At the end of the movie, Carl and Allison are seen donating a truckload of clothes to a local homeless shelter. Cutting to the scene of the "Yes!" seminar, Bundley is seen walking onstage to several hundred naked audience members. It is implied that the participants have said "Yes!" to donating their clothes to charity.

Cast

Soundtrack

Production

Yes Man is based on a memoir of the same name by British humourist Danny Wallace. The book tells of the 6-month period in which he committed himself to saying 'Yes' to everything based on a brief conversation with a stranger he met on the bus. Danny Wallace also has a cameo in the film, in the final bar-scene of the movie, in which he is speaking to someone behind John Michael Higgins.^[2]

Carrey declined an upfront salary for his role in the film. He was instead paid 36.2% of the film's gross after its production and marketing costs were recovered.^[3]

During shooting of a scene where Carrey's character bungee jumps off a bridge, Carrey interrupted and asked to do the stunt himself.^[4] Carrey stated to the stunt double that he intended to do it in one take. When he jumps off, he is seen taking out a cell phone for the scene.

While shooting the scene in the bar where Carrey's character turns around into a waitress and falls flat on his back, Carrey executed the stunt incorrectly and fell to the floor harder than he expected, breaking three ribs in the process. Carrey himself revealed this in an interview for Moviefone in response to a viewer-submitted question about the film's stunts.^[5]

Carrey also mastered basic Korean for a scene. A language coach was hired to help Carrey learn the language accurately. However, this is not the same for the scene in which Carrey's character learns to play the guitar; Carrey has been playing the instrument since his childhood. He plays the song "Jumper" by Third Eye Blind, which sparked strong digital downloads after the film's theatrical release.^{[citation needed]}

The film's soundtrack features original music by "Munchausen by Proxy", a fictional band named after the Münchausen syndrome by proxy, a psychological disorder. Jim Carrey's character is incessantly invited to see the band by an over-eager manager/street promoter.^[6] The San Francisco-based all-girl power trio of vocals, keyboards and drums were hired to collaborate with the actress to write and perform the original songs and stylized aesthetic of the group for this pivotal scene.^[7][8] Von Iva got the part of the fictional ensemble in the film after the movie's music supervisor, Jonathan Karp, saw the cover of their CD in Amoeba in Hollywood.^[9] The soundtrack also features 9 songs by Eels including a brand-new song, "Man Up."^[10]

The introduction music at the beginning of the movie from Carrey's ringtone comes from the song "Separate Ways" by Journey. It is also featured when Carrey's character bails out from the hospital to catch the joggography at 6AM.

Blu-ray / DVD release

The DVD and Blu-ray were released on April 7, 2009. Customers have the option of the single-disc edition and the 2 disc edition titled the "Ultimately Yes!" edition.

Reception

Critical reception

Yes Man generated mixed reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 43% of critics gave positive feedback, based on 141 reviews.^[11] Most critics thought that its plot was too similar to Liar Liar, which also starred Jim Carrey.^[12] Metacritic also calculated a 46/100 approval rating based on 30 reviews.^[13]

In his review for The Miami Herald, Rene Rodriguez wrote, "Yes Man is fine as far as Carrey comedies go, but it's even better as a love story that just happens to make you laugh,"^[14] while Kyle Smith of The New York Post countered in his review that, "The first time I saw Yes Man, I thought the concept was getting kind of stale toward the end. As it turns out, that was only the trailer."^[15] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times gave the film 2 stars out of 4.^[16]

Box office

Despite the mixed critical reception, the film opened #1 in its first weekend at the US box office with $18.3 million,^[17] and went straight to the top of the UK box office in its first weekend after release.^[18]

To date, the film has taken in more than $220 million worldwide, surpassing Carrey's previous comedy Fun with Dick and Jane, but falling short of his 2003 film Bruce Almighty.

References

Further reading

• Wallace, Danny (November 2008) (Paperback). Yes Man. ISBN 1416595538. 

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Yes Man (film)

• Official website
• Yes Man at the Internet Movie Database
• Yes Man at Allmovie
• Yes Man at Box Office Mojo
• Yes Man at Rotten Tomatoes
• Yes Man Production Details