Yes Man - C+

In theaters. Rated PG-13, 104 minutes. Trailer.

A sold out Valkyrie in snowy Leawood, Kansas led me and bride to Yes Man, which turned out much better than I expected. Starring Jim Carrey, the film is a mash up of the concepts of Liar, Liar and any 'coming out of a shell' movie. Carrey is a recent divorcee stuck in a dead-end job with Rhys Darby (Murray from Flight of the Conchords) as his geeky boss. He avoids going out and alienates his friends until an old acquaintance (the always funny John Michael Higgins) convinces him to go to a Terrence Stamp YES! seminar. Click below for more on YES!:

Carrey reluctantly gets on the program and has to say yes to every proposition. This leads us out of the schlocky, predictable movie and into a really enjoyable middle featuring my new fave Zooey Deschanel as the eccentric love interest. Her scenes with Carrey are enjoyable, naturalistic, interesting and well written. Both of them deliver funny and quality performances and I'd like to watch that segment again. The best scene is a suicide sing a long featuring Jumper from Third Eye Blind - funny, poignant and cool.

But, the movie has to finish up, so we're back to the premise and the stupid friend stuff which sucks out the marrow of my soul. I like Bradley Cooper, but Danny Masterson is terrible and apparently was born with sunglasses and facial hair. The Carrey 'stuff' is decently funny, but old. I enjoyed his interactions with Darby a lot, but mostly because of Darby. There are actually a couple of decent shots in Griffith Park in LA and some rural shots in Nebraska and walking in LA. The first and last of this movie is a solid C-, but the middle is a B+, so I'm giginv it a C+. Major point deductions for suffocating product placement: Dell, Red Bull, Capital One, and about 10 more. Beating.