Hello my beautiful watchers, and welcome back to the Lost in Adaptation November Nanos,
the event month I put aside for reviews that don't have enough material to warrant a full-length episode.
We're continuing the mini review month with a book I'm very fond of in a film I am 100%
meh about,
Yes Man.
That's right, Yes Man is not only based on a book, the book is a true story.
It was written by a British man named Danny Wallace, who is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades funny man.
He's done radio, reality TV, filmmaking, stand-up comedy, one of his most popular TV series involved him
seceding his London flat away from Great Britain and declaring himself the king of his own micro nation after
unsuccessfully attempting to annex part of the country
You guys remember Kickassia? Well, he actually did that in real life.
Anyways, he published the book in 2005 and it was...
'adapted'
to film in America in 2008 starring Jim Carrey.
I hesitate to use the word adapted because this is yet again very much a case of in name only.
The film took only the concept of a man who has to say yes to everything to break himself out of his
sedentary post bad breakup lifestyle funk and that is it.
It has so little in common with the book that I was entirely unconvinced
that it even was an adaptation and not just blatant plagiarism of a title
until I spotted Danny Wallace in the background of all the shots towards the end.
The lead's name has changed to Carl Allen,
he's obviously American now,
and he's a bank loan officer instead of a writer/comedian.
The reason he starts saying yes to everything is no longer a challenge that he set himself
to help him improve his life after a random bloke on the bus suggested it,
it's a possibly magical curse put on him
by a man who seems to be a cross between a self-help celebrity and a cultist.
What's really amazing is, aside from that, the fictional film actually toned down the bizarre situations
of the man who always says yes gets into through saying yes.
Jim Carrey Carl does things like giving a car ride to a hobo,
getting a surprisingly good blowjob from an elderly neighbor,
going to a live music bar, visiting Nebraska, and bungee jumping.
Danny on the other hand committed to saying yes to everything for a full six months,
during which he ended up tagging along on a date with his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend,
being inducted into a secret society of people who believe that the pyramid were built by aliens,
getting a mullet,
going to Asia and being chased on a bicycle by what was probably some sort of lizard,
going to Spain because a spam email told him to,
getting a picture drawn of him with the imaginary dog he insisted was there because he was tripping balls
on the drugs he'd been offered,
going to see the same shock value play four times,
getting a new TV job,
meeting an Australian woman he would eventually marry,
and getting hypnotized by a dog owned by a man who played a stormtrooper in Star Wars,
and no, I'm not kidding out as being nonfiction.
There's several twists I won't spoil involving some characters that show up early and then return
or are referenced later that just really bring the whole book together,
I love it.
It's actually genuinely inspiring, and still a fun read even if you're happy with
where you are and what you're doing right now.
The biggest problem with this adaptation is its main strength as a film: Jim Carrey,
and I say that as a Jim Carrey fan.
The problem is, every Jim Carrey film becomes exactly that: a Jim Carrey film.
Everything in it from the story to the cinematography is used for one purpose and one purpose only:
to facilitate Jim Carrey being Jim Carrey.
Great if you love Jim Carrey, but bad news if you were actually interested in the story.
As I believe I've mentioned before, he really is one of the last actors in the world
you want to cast for an adaptation.
He's just got too much personality to ever fully assume the role of a pre-existing character.
Theres' significantly less impact to the film because a: you know it's fictional
and b: as I said they actually toned down how surreal things got for the man who always says yes.
It received very mixed reviews from critics, but was a box-office success regardless,
and I'm actually kind of glad of that.
Despite its blatant disregard for the source material,
it's a competently, made entirely harmless feel-good film,
and I rather suspect if Danny Wallace had wanted to make an accurate adaptation out of his book
he would and could have done it himself.
Yes Man is available on amazon.com and amazon.co.uk UK, in paperback Kindle and abridged audiobook
which I don't recommend because abridging SUUUCKS,
but you know the options there.
If you feel like you could use some light-hearted encouragement to become
just a little more proactive in life, I highly recommend it.
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Have a most pleasant day, and I will see you soon.