The first pictures of what will hopefully be a return to form for Jim Carrey – his new film, The Yes Man – are now online, thanks to Warner Pictures.
Based on the novel by our very own Danny Wallace, the Peyton Reed-directed movie stars Carrey as Carl Allen, a man who signs up for a self-help program that encourages him to say ‘yes’ to anything and everything that comes his way. At first, it gives his life new direction, impetus and meaning, but gradually he begins to realise that just saying ‘no’ might also be a good thing from time to time.
So, it seems like pretty standard Carrey formula – high-concept plot allowing our rubber-faced hero to get up to some pretty wild comic antics for the first two acts, before becoming all sincere and moon-faced for the last act as he discovers that there’s more to life than clowning around.
But we like Reed as a director, we like the Danny Wallace source material (even if we get the feeling that not much will be left by the time the movie rolls around), and we haven’t seen Carrey be properly, genuinely funny for a long time now (not since, gosh, well, parts of Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate Events). So this has grabbed our keen interest.
The two pictures released show, firstly, Carrey and his movie squeeze, Zooey Deschanel, behind a chain fence, with Carrey’s joyous expression indicating that he’s had an epiphany. Secondly, Carrey and Terence Stamp, presumably playing the guru of the self-help program, are getting up to comical face-squeezing hijinks.
So, what do you think, readers? Are you going say yes or no to The Yes Man? It’s due for release in December, so you’ve got a while to make up your mind.