Lost in Adaptation: Yes Man

The Dom provides a brief comparison between the 2005 memoir Yes Man and its 2008 film adaptation.

Intro
The Dom: 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 and a film I am one hundred percent..."meh" about, Yes Man.

Poll
People Asked: 110

Just Saw the Film: 39

Just Read the Book: 11

Did Both: 1

Did Neither: 69

The Dom: 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 funnyman. 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 micronation 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 one of the shots towards the end.

The Dom (V.O.): The lead's name is 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 that the man who always says "yes" gets into by 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 believed that the pyramids 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 (text appears reading "*Amsterdam actually but second takes are for nerds") because a spam email had 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 about this being non-fiction.

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. (text appears reading "I don't love that he's a anti vaxxer but you can't have everything.") 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 assume the role of a pre-existing character.

There's 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.

The Dom: Yes Man is available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk in paperback, Kindle, and abridged audiobook -- which I don't recommend because abridging SUUUUUUUUUCKS; but, you know, the option's there. If you feel like you could use some lighthearted encouragement to become just a *little* more proactive in life, I highly recommend it.