When comedians famed for being over the top branch out into dramatic roles, they tend to go the opposite extreme. Performances like Jerry Lewis in Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy, or Adam Sandler in Spanglish can look more impressive than they are just because it’s surprising to see them not acting like monkeys on meth.

Jim Carrey in Yes Man

Jim Carrey gave a pretty good straight performance in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but was still so restrained that he seemed on the verge of fading off of the screen (admittedly not inappropriate to the film’s theme). Unlike that arthouse hit, Yes Man is Carrey aiming for a middle ground: It’s a comedy directed at his usual fans in which he mutes his usually manic edge. Is there a market for that? Hard to say: I’m guessing Carrey’s fans will be a bit disappointed by it, though not so much that it will hurt its box office much. Carrey plays a bank officer in a depressed rut a year after his wife left him. When a friend drags him to a self-help seminar (run by a very funny Terrence Stamp), he decides to adopt its life advice of saying “Yes” to every question asked of him. The premise of the humor is that he overdoes it, agreeing to any number of absurd situations he should know enough to stay away from. It somewhat resembles Carrey’s Liar Liar, in which his hotshot lawyer reconnected with the people in his life when a magical spell forced him to tell the truth for a day. Yes Man has a similarly optimistic theme of opening yourself up to life, and it’s not undercut by a lot of crudely stupid gags. (Well, there’s an elderly neighbor, played by the charming but usually more dignified Fionnula Flanagan, who dispenses “tension relief” to younger men: You will never look at dentures the same way again.) But despite some lively pratfalls, it’s an awfully subdued movie, more cute than crazy. The sight of Carrey doing his own stunts, including bungee jumping off of a bridge, might have been more impressive were we not used to digital effects that can make any couch potato look like Jackie Chan. It’s a movie of small pleasures, like the ridiculous songs sung by co-star Zooey Deschanel (who co-wrote them with E of the band the Eels). But if you prefer your Carrey over the top, this probably won’t do it for you.

—m. faust