Fridae

It's good to have the rubber-faced comedian Jim Carrey doing live-action comedy again, after an absence of three years. He is visibly older now - he's 46, after all. And the frantic goofball antics that made him so rich and famous all these years seem less appealing on a middle-aged man.

But he is still funny, still capable of evoking laugh-out-loud moments, and still the best reason to watch the otherwise average Yes Man.

Loosely based on Danny Wallace's funny memoir about saying "yes" to everything for a year, the film has Jim playing a bank loan officer whose favorite word is "no". Feeling miserable about himself, Jim decides to sign up for a self-help programme that teaches him to say "yes" to everything and anything.

Soon, his life changes in extraordinary ways. He gets promoted and even finds the courage to pursue a romance with the lovely Zoey Deschanel. Of course, saying "yes" to everything can make things go hilariously wrong. But in the important departments such as love and happiness, things go hilariously right�

Directed by Peyton Reed, Yes Man has a few insights to share on our contemporary existence, but those insights don't go deep enough. There are times when we wished Jim would take a longer break from his madcap misadventures so we can ponder more deeply into what the film is trying to say about the secrets of happiness - even if it does not know how to say them.

A "Yes" for Jim's fans, and anyone else who needs a laugh and a think in these gloomy economic times.