Yes Man

Just finished watching Yes Man & I pretty enjoyed it. I've always been a fan of most of Jim Carey's movies & this is no exception. The acting was as good as anything else; I actually laughed out loud a few times, & the movie also had nice romantic side to it.

Long story short: Jim Carey plays Carl Allen, who for the last 5 years has been working in the loan department of a bank. He's got 2 friends, but doesn't like going out with them. His wife's left him, & he's just got a pretty dull life - most nights are spent sat in, alone, watching movies he's rented from the local Blockbuster. He then bumps into an old friend who has got a new lease on life - he must say "Yes" to everything. Carl reluctantly goes to the seminar, & during it he himself becomes a "yes man". From that night on, his life changes forever. 

He says yes to everything & anything (Korean language lessons, flying lessons, helping the homeless, etc), & over a number of circumstances gets together with this this chick called Alison (Zooey Deschanel - who, for the whole entire movie, I actually thought was Katy Perry. Well, I realized it wasn't her, but she looked ALOT like her). They fall in love, until they get stopped in an airport & Carl is questioned about all of the random things he's done (they beleive he's a terrorist). Alison finds out about the "yes man" way of life & beleives that the only reason he got with her was because he had to say "yes" to everything. The movie then goes on, with Carl trying to get back with Alison, & with Carl learning the true "way of life" of a 'yes man'.

As I said, the acting was as good as anything else. Though 'Norman', or "Norm", (Rhys Darby) was kinda annoying but I feel as though he character was meant to put that across to the audience, as you saw the life through Carl, & at the beginning of the movie he hated Norman but over time built a friendship because of the 'yes man' belief though it was still portrayed in a way that you could tell Carl still found him annoying. 

Yes it was a Rom-Com, but it wasn't that funny for the most part. Though, I did laugh a good number of times. But don't get me wrong, just because it wasn't all that funny doesn't (or, didn't) ruin the enjoyment of the movie. I still enjoyed it overall; though it wasn't as much of a classic as some other Jim Carey films (eg 'The Truman show') it was still a much enjoyable film. 

All in all, I'd probably give it a B rating.

Oh, & if you're thinking "well this is just basically Liar Liar", in my opinion, it's not. If anything, it's moreso the opposite. In that movie, he has to learn not to lie. In this movie, he has to say "yes" to everything that comes his way. Now I can't remember Liar Liar all that well, as it's been a few years since I last saw it, but don't go into this movie expecting Liar Liar, because from as much as I can remember from that film, this is not it at all.

Man On The Moon

I don't normally do this, but after watching this film I just thought I had to do it.

Wow, I just finished watching 'Man On the Moon' & what a truely great film it was. I should say now that prior to the film I've seen very very little of any of Kaufman's stuff, or even knew very little of him. This film actually taught me quite a bit about him. Now I realize that his life wasn't exactly as the film portrayed (after all, he does warn the audience of that at the beginning of the movie) but from what I've quickly just found out it's meant to be pretty close to his actual life.

The reason I watched this film is actually because I was watching an episode of Legends Of Wrestling onn WWE 24/7 & I can't remember if they were discussing Jerry Lawler's career or if Jerry Lawler was on the panel, but whichever way it was one of the panelists mentioned the film & said how great Carey played the character/role of Andy Kaufman. I don't really know why it made me watch the film, but it did. 

As I said, I didn't really know what Kaufman was like during the time he was alive but you can tell that all of the actor/actresses had done thier research & really nailed each of thier roles. Especially Jim Carey. I actually can't think of anybody else who could've played the role better than him. I gotta say I was pretty surprised by the number of quality-name actors in the movie - "Hilga" from Sabrina The Teenage Witch (I don't know her real name, I just remember that character name from when I used to watch the show years ago), Richard Belzer, Courtney Love (I didn't actually realize it was her until I read the character listings on Wiki), a young "Chloe O'Brian" from 24 (I don't know her real name either), & a bunch of others that popped up. I also gotta admit, I marked out when I saw JR for the first time; I did not expect him to be in there. Heck, I didn't expect Lawler to be either, & I kinda marked for him. Though it surprises me that if Lawler was in the movie, that they didn't use the Memphis Wrestling promotion stuff & instead used a fake "Global Wrestling Federation" promotion. 

One thing I did have to learn to understand was Kaufman's bizarre, or well, different, sense of humor which infact he shared with Bob Zmuda. There was a little bit which I found humorous, but there was also much of it I personally didn't find humrous. Though I don't feel as though the aim of the movie was to try & get gags, it was moreso about informing the audience of the truely intersting life of Andy Kaufman. It's a rollercoaster ride from his childhood, to his struggles trying to make it in showbusiness, to making it, to wrestling, to trying to go back to showbusiness, to get cancer, to unfortunately dieing & everything inbetween. 

I will admit that during that second-to-last scene where it's Kaufman's funeral I did almost shead a tear, & then got even closer during the final performance of Tony Clifton. Which does bring me onto the ambigious ending. After watching the movie I've found that it's beleived by some that he didn't actually, & that Kaufman faked his death. Now while watching the film I was kinda expecting for it to be revealed that he didn't have cancer but for him to then die of something more sudden like a heart attack, but I guess that added to the sadness - the one time he was being completely serious, people didn't want to listen. I guess it comes back to the old story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf. But yeah I was expecting it to be Zmuda playing the character of Tony Clifton, but in one of the last shots you see him at the side of the room smiling on. Which leaves the audience pondering the question at the end, as fans have been for 25 years, did Andy Kaufman actually die? As in real life, the movie gave out the message that most people beleive he is deceased but there are those select few who beleive he might still be alive. 

In conclusion, for me, I found it to be a truely great film with great acting, & I want to say 'great story' but it obviously it wasn't a "story", it was biopic of Andy's life. Nonetheless it was still a great film in my estimation, & if y'all have not checked it out I HIGHLY suggest that you do. I don't normally like grading movies, but if I was to do so, I'd probably give it an A or an A+; it really would go up there with some of all-time most enjoyable movies.

Now I know I should've kinda finished this post, but I just wanted to say one more thing... I had NO IDEA that the feud between Andy Kaufman & Jerry Lawler was completely fake. I mean, being the wrestling fan that I am I probably should've figured out that wasn't 100% real, but I dunno, I'd always thought it was. So it kinda blew me away a little when the movie revealed that to me.