I don't often watch films anymore. There was a time when Ste and I went to the cinema every single Tuesday of our lives and we watched just about everything out there. Then television became more of a fan thing for me with me tracking and reviewing the shows I had watched and falling in love with Veronica Mars, Prison Break, The O.C. and a host of other shows.
However, I made a New Year's resolution to watch 20 films this year. Interestingly, I made the same resolution in 2007 but then I went through the pesky inconvenience of emigrating to a new country and that can really interfere with your leisure time, I tell you. There is also the small detail that we paid 50p each to go to the cinema in South Africa (which is about $1) and it costs £8 to £12 to go to the cinema here. I really struggle with that discrepancy and that is at the heart of my review on this film.
There was nothing special about Yes Man. A man enters into a challenge to say 'yes' to everything for an entire year and naturally that leads to funny consequences as he says 'yes' to all those spam mails offering enlargements and so on. And he meets a girl and his habit leads to misunderstandings and a rift in the relationship but they clear it up eventually and they live happily ever after.
In other words, it is the same as every other romantic comedy out there and you certainly shouldn't waste actual money going to see it in the cinema. It also fits the Jim Carrey formula which is a pity because I happen to think he can act and I don't understand why he would opt for something as unoriginal and formulaic as this after he somewhat proved himself in the critically acclaimed films Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Man on the Moon and The Truman Show.
My final answer will be: move along, there's nothing to see here. Certainly don't watch it is if it the only thing you're going to watch at the cinema in the next couple of months. Wait until it comes out on DVD and then hire it along with a host of other DVDs on a rainy Sunday afternoon. And then nap through it.
It's not really fair to convert the price of movies - considering, to us, paying R35 to go to movies is a LOT of money :P
ReplyDeleteOf course! Had it not been for Discovery and paying R8 each to go to a movie, we would never, ever have gone. I simply would not pay R35 to go to see a film. Having said that, the price of films in London is ridiculous, no matter which currency you are converting from. They are just prohibitively expensive full stop. I don't know anyone in London who goes to movies more than four times a year.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly what I thought about it just from the movie previews. Although I might rent it once it's out on DVD.
ReplyDelete@ Ivanhoe: Hiya! Yes, in retrospect, I don't know why I expected anything different because the film was exactly as it was promised in the previews. But definitely - hire the dvd!
ReplyDeleteOk, I am half-and-half about my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI think Jim Carrey is an alright actor, he has been in both good and bad movies (but hasn't every actor) I have heard "Yes Man" is a good movie, by the way my friend described it to me, it was funny. I enjoy a good comedy movie every once in a while.
Emm, you only go to the movies four times a year?
Our cinemas are a good price, there are none in the town I live in but one is only 30 mins away.
I am not a Screen-o-holic but I have already been twice this year. This is still considered a lot where I come from, I never usually go that much.
Last year, I don't know how many times I have been to the cinemas, I know I go on average about 1 a month so I go around 12 times a year.
Hey Pizza! I actually only went to the cinema twice last year but luckily both of those times were free - one was a preview and one was a competition I won. I really miss going (like I said, we used to go every single week) but I can't justify £8 to £10 to get in - I can buy two books for that!!!
ReplyDeleteI saw Yes Man yesterday. I think you what you said is very true, I didn't think it was good in many ways and it wasn't even funny.
ReplyDeleteOh, and Emm, I'd rather have two books than a couple of hours of a movie.
I just saw that a pound is equivelant to two of my dollars. 16 dollars is quite a bit for a movie. I remembered when we saw went to the cineamas, it cost $50 dollars (25-ish pounds) for six people to see the movie, which is about half of your price.
@ Vanessa: When we went to movies during our stay there, they wanted to charge me R63 for a 3D film - I couldn't believe it!! We landed up paying R35 which was ridiculous.
ReplyDelete@ Pizza: Movies are completely overpriced here. We pay £14.99 a month now which must be like AUS$30. We can go as many times a month as we want to now, including to the prestigious central London cinemas.