Yes Man (2008)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2008
Running Time	100:08
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (68:32)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Peyton Reed
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Jim Carrey Zooey Deschanel Bradley Cooper John Michael Higgins Rhys Darby Danny Masterson Fionnula Flanagan
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Mark Everett Lyle Workman

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

    The story follows the life of Carl Allen (Carrey), a middle level employee at a small bank who has complete withdrawn from his friends because his wife left him. He is boring and spends his life avoiding people and watching movies in his apartment. His friends are sick of him and are quickly getting to the point of not bothering with him anymore. It is then that he runs into an old friend, Nick Lane (a criminally underused John Michael Higgins) who introduces him to a new life philosophy, saying Yes to any opportunity that arises. This is the philosophy espoused by new age svengali, Terrence Bundley (Terence Stamp). Once he accepts this he starts trying everything and enjoying life much more. Some things work better for him than others (including the icky sex with the neighbour) but he does manage to meet a girl, Allison (Zooey Deschanel) who is very different to him. She is a musician/performance artist who takes life as it comes. They are attracted to each other and start a somewhat difficult relationship due to their differences.

    The comedy here is more dryly and sweetly amusing than gross-out (although there are a couple of moments) or full-on slapstick. There are a few scenes featuring the full-on wild and wacky Carrey, however, it is not as common as the trailer may lead you to believe. It is worth watching out for Flight of the Conchords cast member, Rhys Darby as Bank Manager, Norman. The kiwi accent certainly makes him stand out. It is somewhat surprising that he was not 'Americanised' by the system.

    The music (aside from the score) is provided by Eels, an alternative Pop/Rock group. The songs are certainly interesting and add significantly to the slightly oddball feel of the movie. Some of the songs are performed by Zooey Deschanel and her band in the film, Munchausen by Proxy. The film is helmed by romantic comedy director, Peyton Reed who has previously been responsible for films such as Bring it On, The Break-Up and Down With Love. The tone jumps around a bit in this film and it does not completely flow, end to end. Having said that though, it is diverting and leaves you feeling entertained which is certainly a good thing. The strength of this film is that it has a different feel to most rom-coms.

    This is the first of the May releases we have reviewed by Roadshow and I am pleased to report that as promised this disc does feature an unskippable short anti-piracy trailer before the menu however the following three trailers can be fast-forwarded (but unfortunately you still cannot skip forward or jump to the menu).

    Worth a rental but probably would not be something which would get a lot of rewatches.

Video

    The video quality is very good, bordering on excellent.

    The feature is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was quite clear and sharp while not being quite as sharp as the best transfers. Shadow detail is very good.

    The colour was excellent.

    There was some very occasional MPEG artefacts during fast motion.

    There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired which were clear and easy to read.

    There is a layer change at 68:32 which was not noticeable during playback.
    

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is very good.

    This DVD contains two audio options, an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 384 Kb/s and an English Audio Descriptive Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand throughout.

    The music consisting of a number of alternative pop/rock songs and a score suits the film well.

     The surround speakers were used occasionally for crowd noise and an owl but didn't really jump out generally.

    The subwoofer use was mostly for the music along with some crashes and bumps.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    The extras are 16x9 enhanced.

Menu

    The menu features music and a still from the film.

Down Time on the set of Yes Man (4.00) 

    Featurette about how boring it is to make films and what Jim Carrey does around the set to stave it off.

Jim Carrey : Extreme Yes Man (11:51) 

    Featurette about Jim Carrey's physical involvement in the various stunts including the dog scene, rollerblades, motorbikes and bungee jumping.

Future Sounds : Munchausen by Proxy (5:23) 

    Joke featurette about the band in the film.

Exclusive Munchausen by Proxy Music Videos (14:25) 

    Longer versions of the five live performances in the film.

Gag Reel (5:25) 

    Decent but not overly funny gag reel.

    The Region 1 version adds a digital copy of the film but nothing else major except a couple of other language options. The film is also available on Blu-ray.

    Draw.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is very good.

    A small set of average quality extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall