If you wonder why Jim Carrey’s characters keep getting into bizarre problems like not being able to lie (Liar Liar), playing God for a few days (Bruce Almighty), and saying ‘yes’ to everything (in this film), then Yes Man is perhaps not for you. But if you’re looking for a few laughs provided by the rubber-faced Jim Carrey, get ready to suspend your disbelief one more time.

Carl Allen (Jim Carrey) is the kind of guy who says ‘no’ to everything. He avoids his friend’s calls, turns down invitations to parties, refuses breakfast with his elderly neighbour, rejects loan applications and wallows in self-pity because his wife left him three years ago. Till, of course, he meets an old acquaintance who convinces him to attend a seminar where self-help guru Terence Stamp puts a covenant on him to say ‘yes’ to all of life’s experiences. And if he dares say ‘no’, horrible things must happen.

Just out of the seminar, a homeless person asks him for a ride and poor Carl ends up saying ‘yes’. The homeless guy asks if he can use his cellphone and he says ‘yes’ again. Soon, he is on top of a hill with no gas in his car and a dead battery in his phone. Saying ‘yes’ obviously is not working for Carl. He treks miles to get himself gas and meets the cute-as-a-button Allison (Zooey Deschanel), a tiny hell-raiser on a scooter. When she kisses him before vrooming off, Carl finally begins to see the sense in saying ‘yes’ to things and opens up to life.

Thereafter it’s a whole lot of fun, watching Carl on his ‘yes’ trip — he gets sloshed in a bar, snorts chilli sauce, gets in a brawl, lands up for a 6am jogging and photography class after a night of Red Bull and manages to convince a guy not to jump off a ledge by singing to him! Carrey’s spontaneity is infectious and Zooey is likeable as the free spirit who sings for a rock band which boasts of an eight-member fan club. The ending is predictably predictable and ties up all the loose ends a little too neatly.

So should you say ‘yes’ to Yes Man? Maybe because the film is good for a bag of popcorn, a few laughs and a diluted message about being more open to life.