The solution to life's problem lies with just three words...

...Say 'Yes' More!

Or at least, that's the premise in Jim Carrey's latest feature, Yes Man.

Based on a true story and a 2005 book called The Yes Man by British humorist Danny Wallace, the movie follows the story of Carl Allen (Jim Carrey), a recalcitrant junior loan approval officer in a bank who's perfectly content to vegetate on his couch in front of the TV watching rented DVD movies as he conveniently dodges one social engagement after another. But, as luck would have it, he bumps into Nick, a former colleague whose newfound spontaneity and impetuous zest for life prompts Carl to check out a life-affirming motivational seminar called 'Yes!' that turned Nick into who he is now.

Shortly after meeting the overly zealous motivational 'Yes' guru, Terrence Bundley (Terrence Stamp), Carl makes a covenant with him to live his life fully by saying 'Yes' to anything and everything. And soon enough, once Carl embraces the 'Yes!' philosophy completely, bigger and better things start happening to his life; he gets his long-awaited promotion, he meets Allison (Zooey Deschanel), a girl whose free spirited ways (minus the 'Yes' programming, of course) he becomes attracted to, and he even takes up flying lessons, guitar lessons, and even learns to speak Korean. But after Allison discovers Carl's 'Yes' covenant to answer 'Yes!' to any and every opportunity, request, or invitation that presents itself to him, she doubts if he was even committed to her in the first place, prompting Carl to rethink if saying 'Yes' to everything really is as life-affirming as he has come to believe.

As part of Azrael Coladilla's Pop Machine Media bloggers group, I was lucky enough to score an invite to Warner Bros. press screening for the aforementioned movie. I've been a big fan of Jim Carrey since his 'In Living Color' days so, even though he's had some big misses lately (The Majestic, The Number 23, anyone?), his number of hits and his sheer comedy genius still has me rooting for him. Now, the question is; does he still have the swing to knock this one out of box-office ball park?

Yes? No?

Maybe is more like it, really.

When I first heard that Jim Carrey was doing a movie where he feels the need to say 'Yes' to everything that's thrown his way, I immediately thought, 'Wait a minute? Doesn't that just sound like Liar Liar's premise where he has to tell the truth every single time?'

Still, with an open mind, I watched the movie to see how it fares with the rest of Jim's vast body of work. As it turns out, I was wrong, but only because Yes Man turned out to be an amalgam of some of Jim's top-grossing hits like Liar Liar and Bruce Almighty, but with a dash of Jack Black's Shallow Hal thrown in.

If Robert Kosberg, Hollywood's king of pitch, delivered it like that to Warner Bros. top honchos, then, yeah, the movie sure sounds promising and looks like a surefire winner if Jim Carrey signs up. But as always, any plan that's executed poorly, or at best, in utter mediocrity, is bound to fail.

It's fairly easy to see where the Liar Liar (man commited to do something even if he doesn't like it) and Shallow Hal (motivational guru 'brainwashing' man to override his impulse reaction) bits in the movie are, but as much as the movie tried to grasp the heart that Bruce Almighty had, it ultimately failed. Considering Peyton Reed's limited body of work (Bring It On, The Break-Up), I can only say that maybe he simply didn't have the chops to make it work. But if Jim's frequent collaborator, Tom Shadyac, helmed this one, or maybe even Dennis Dugan, Adam Sandler's favorite director, the movie would've resonated more with the audience.

Jim Carrey's physical brand of comedy was present, as always, and though some bordered on toilet humor, to a Jim Carrey fan like myself, it never fails to elicit a laugh from me. But I do admit, a few of the comedy spots he did was getting old, to say the least. I dunno, it may be just me but I really think he's turning into Generation X's Jerry Lewis - once absurdly funny, but as time passed by, his comedy routines became, well, routine and stale.

Zooey Deschanel was lovely, as always, with the role of a free-spirirted musician fitting her to a T. Unfortunately, her character wasn't well developed as the audience only saw a fleeting glimpse of what Allison, her character, was truly like. What's more, there was hardly even any chemistry between her and Jim Carrey, so much so that in the very few romantic scenes that they had, everything seemed awfully forced.

All in all, if you're a Jim Carrey fan, I'd recommend you see the movie. His classic Jim Carrey routines are all here for your enjoyment, with one of my particular favorites being the scene where he talks down Luis Guzman from jumping off of a building by singing Third Eye Blind's Jumper.

But if you're looking for more heart, more depth to the story, I suggest you just wait for the DVD release. For such a promising premise, Yes Man fails to deliver all the goodies. In the hands of the right director, the chemistry between Jim Carrey and Zooey Deschanel might've been ignited even further compared to the lukewarm sensation both of them projected onscreen as a couple, with the ending having the said heart and depth the movie lacked for almost the entire 1 1/2 hour screening time. Sadly, we're left to see a glimpse of Jim's naked buttocks to elicit a few more laughs before the credit starts rolling.

So for this Underachiever, Yes Man is a huge underachievement.