Credits
Distributed by
Warner Bros. Pictures
Directed by
Peyton Reed
Screenplay by
Nicholas Stoller
Jarrad Paul
Andrew Mogel
Based on Yes Man by Danny Wallace
Produced by
David Heyman
Richard D. Zanuck
Starring
Jim Carrey
Zooey Deschanel
Bradley Cooper
John Michael Higgins
Terence Stamp
Cinematography
Robert D. Yeoman
Edited by
Craig Alpert
Music by
Lyle Workman
Mark Oliver Everett
Production companies
Village Roadshow Pictures
The Zanuck Company
Heyday Films
Synopsis
Carl, a bank loan officer, has become withdrawn since his divorce from Stephanie. He has an increasingly negative outlook on his life and routinely ignores his friends Peter and Rooney. On the advice of an old colleague, Nick, Carl attends a motivational seminar that encourages people to seize the opportunity to say "Yes!" At the seminar, Carl meets inspirational guru Terrence, who extracts from Carl a promise to answer "Yes!" to every opportunity that presents itself. Later, Carl says yes to a homeless man's request and is stranded out-of-gas and with no battery on his cell phone in Elysian Park. Disillusioned, he hikes to a nearby gas station where he meets Allison, an unorthodox young woman. Carl and Allison meet at the airport for a spontaneous weekend excursion. Having decided to take the first plane out of town, regardless of its destination, they end up in Lincoln, Nebraska, where they bond more. Allison confesses her love for Carl and asks him to move in with her and he hesitantly agrees. While checking in for the return flight, Carl and Allison are detained by FBI agents who have profiled him as a potential terrorist because he has taken flying lessons, studied Korean, approved a loan to a fertilizer company, met an Iranian, and bought plane tickets at the last minute. Peter, his attorney, 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 him, Allison leaves Carl and refuses to return his phone calls.
Carl's life takes a turn for the worse and he almost forgets about Lucy's shower. He manages to arrange a major surprise shower, set his friend Norm up with Soo-Mi, a Korean girl, and Rooney with Tillie. After the party, Carl receives a tearful phone call from Stephanie, whose new boyfriend has walked out on her. When Carl goes to Stephanie's apartment to comfort her, she kisses him and asks him to spend the night with her. After Carl emphatically says no, his luck takes a turn for the worse and he decides to end his commitment to the covenant.
Carl goes to the convention center and hides in the backseat of Terrence's convertible so that he can beg to be released from the covenant. Carl emerges as Terrence drives off, and an oncoming vehicle collides with Terrence, resulting in the two being taken to a hospital. After Carl recovers consciousness, Terrence tells Carl that the covenant was not real, but it was merely a starting point to open Carl's mind to other possibilities, not to permanently take away his ability to say no if he needed to. Freed from this restraint, Carl finds Allison teaching a sports-photography lesson and admits that he is not ready to move in with her just yet, but that he genuinely loves her, and they reconcile with a kiss as Allison's students take pictures.