Learn to Say Yes

Finally a HAHA comedy!

Film adaptation are tricky beasts to tame. No matter the outcome there will always be two camps - those who remain faithful to the book and those who adore the film.

Now a year ago, I had heard of a radio producer who had, in a series of astounding events ended travelling the world with his then flatmate searching for 54 people who shared the name Dave Gorman. Shortly after this escapade or "stupid boy project" began, came a BBC television programme and a book. The book was an epistle of sorts chronicling one who was excited by the epic before them (Gorman) and one who was resistant (Wallace). This tale led me to other writing par each of the duo, including the now cinematic "Yes Man".

"Yes Man" was warm, funny, and more importantly identifiable. The rut that Danny Wallace had found himself in, many people could find within their day today lives.

So, it's suffice to say that I was sceptical. Film adaptations of really good books almost always fall short of the mark. So when I heard that a film of Yes Man was being made, I cringed. Is it possible to ruin a such a charming tale? And a true story at that? Then the rumours began to filter through... Jim Carrey to star in the Danny Wallace character...Made by Warner Brothers... Set in the US...etc To my mind only one Brit comic book has been able to translate itself to film and across the Atlantic without losing itself and that's Nick Hornby's "High Fidelity". "Yes Man" had a lot to live up to.

Boy did it succeed.

Moving to France means that not only do all English films come with subtitles (in French) but they are released later than the UK. Therefore I missed its opening when I visited family in London and ended up seeing it a month later in a cinema on the Champs Elysée.

Not doing the typical "popcorn and ice cream" do in the cinema but rather the "highly priced but worth it pasta and bread sticks" affair, me and a good friend, sat down waited for the Jim Carrey film to start.

I'l be honest, it's been 5 years since a really good Carrey film (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and 9 years since a good Carrey comedy (Me, Myself and Irene), I secretly hoped for his sake that this would be a return to form.

He did not disappoint. The last film I saw with audience interaction was Dreamgirls, when Jennifer Hudson was given a standing ovation for that song. Yes Man had people coughing up their popcorn, snorting their drinks and chortling through the tears (okay that last one might have been just me).

The laughs came thick and fast, not guilty laughs, you had to be there laughs, but actual Santa Claus, you had to hold your stomach HO HO HO-ing. Yes Jim Carrey looks older and not wiser but who cares? Yes Man is a great way to start 2009.

In comparison to the book, the plot and the characters have changed. But the essence is still there. That's the important thing. By the end you do still want think about what would happen if you say "yes" to more things instead of the frequently reached for "no". The film does hammer this point home more than the book but you end up laughing so hard it doesn't matter.

My only query is this - to the writers. Congrats on a well executed plot that wasn't difficult to follow and was actually funny without depending on a comedian to make the script stand up. At the end of the second act, the pace, feeling in fact, everything kind of hurtled to a snail's pace. Like a rom-com writer was drafted in to finish a simple comedic script. The romance element was pushed to the front in importance like an afterthought. The point of the tale was not how Carl met Alison, but how Carl improved his live by being open to things. Saying that, its only noticeable because up until that point I cannot fault it.

Lots of films have suffered from ARCS (Afterthought Rom Com Syndrome), Chaos Theory and Definitely Maybe being two of them (in the last year).

As for Yes Man -  definitely a DVD option.