Yes Man is a comedy film directed by Peyton Reed and starring Jim Carrey. The film is based on the true story and 2005 book Yes Man by British humourist Danny Wallace
Los Angeles bank employee Carl Allen (Jim Carrey) has become withdrawn and depressed since his divorce from ex-wife Stephanie (Molly Sims). Routinely ignoring his friends, he has grown used to spending his spare time watching DVDs alone in his apartment. His outlook on life has become inherently negative. But when a friend (John Michael Higgins) persuades him to attend the "Yes!" self-improvement seminar, motivational guru Terrence Bundley (Terence Stamp) publicly browbeats him into making a covenant with himself. Carl reluctantly promises to stop being a "No Man" and vows to answer "Yes!" to every opportunity, request or invitation that presents itself thereafter.
After the seminar, saying "yes" to a homeless man's requests only leaves Carl stranded in Elysian Park with his phone battery dead, no money, and his gas tank empty. Disillusioned, he hikes to a gas station, cursing himself for being so credulous and gullible. But at the gas station he meets Allison (Zooey Deschanel), an eccentric young woman who is refueling her scooter. She gives him a hair-raising ride back to his car, and spontaneously kisses him before she rides off.
After this experience, Carl adopts a positive mentality and seizes every opportunity that comes his way. He takes flying lessons, attends Korean language classes, learns to play the guitar, and even joins a Persian dating website. Saying "yes" constantly works to Carl's advantage. After accepting concert tickets from a promoter whom he has previously ignored, he sees an idiosyncratic band whose lead singer turns out to be Allison. He is charmed by her quirkiness; she is charmed by his spontaneity; and the two begin dating. He earns a promotion at work after his many approved loans open new territory for the bank in the area of microcredit. Making use of his guitar lessons, he wins public acclaim by playing Third Eye Blind's song "Jumper" to persuade a man (Luis Guzman) not to commit suicide by jumping off a ledge.
As their relationship blossoms, Carl and Allison meet at the airport for a spontaneous weekend excursion. Having decided to take the first plane out of town, no matter where its destination, they end up in Lincoln, Nebraska, where they explore the Frank H. Woods Telephone Museum, attend a college football game, and go skeet shooting. As they shelter from the rain in an isolated barn, Allison asks Carl to move in with her. He hesitantly agrees. But while checking in for the return flight, Carl is detained by FBI agents, who have profiled him as potential terrorist because he has taken flying lessons, studied Korean, approved a loan to a fertilizer company, met an Iranian mail-order bride, and bought plane tickets at the last minute.
Carl's lawyer and best friend Pete travels to Nebraska to explain Carl's odd habits, lessons, and decisions. As she finds out about Carl's motivational covenant, Allison begins to doubt whether his commitment to her was ever sincere. Deciding that she can no longer trust a man who is obliged always to respond in the affirmative, regardless of his true feelings, Allison leaves Carl at the airport and refuses to return his phone calls.
Soon afterward, Carl receives a tearful phone call from his ex-wife Stephanie, whose new partner has walked out on her. When Carl goes to Stephanie's apartment to comfort her, she kisses him passionately and asks whether they can get back together. After Carl emphatically says "no," his luck takes a turn for the worse. The elevator in which he tries to leave Stephanie's building almost snaps free of its cable, a black cat crosses his path, and his car gets clamped and towed.
In desperation, Carl goes to the convention center where the "Yes!" seminar is held, and hides in the backseat of Bundley's convertible so that he can beg to be released from the covenant. Carl emerges as Bundley drives off, startling him to run a red light and collide with an oncoming vehicle. The two are taken to hospital. After Carl recovers consciousness, Bundley irately tells Carl that there was no "covenant." The point was merely to open Carl's mind to other possibilities, not to take away his ability to say "no" if he needed to.
Freed from this restraint, Carl leaves the hospital on a Ducati motorcycle, wearing only a hospital gown. He finds Alison and admits that he does not want to move in with her just yet, but tells her that he genuinely loves and wants her—and has not been with her just because he has been compelled to say "yes". The couple kiss passionately.
At the end of the movie, Carl and Allison are seen donating a truckload of clothes to a local homeless shelter. Cutting to the scene of the "Yes!" seminar, Bundley is seen walking onstage to several hundred naked audience members. It is implied that the participants have said "Yes!" to donating their clothes to charity.
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