Ask me if this new Jim Carrey comedy is basically a weak but fitfully funny rip-off of the guy’s own Liar Liar from a decade ago and I would say, well, yes. But should you watch it? That would be a firm but definite…maybe.

Carrey plays a divorced sad sack of a bank loan officer who spends his days saying no to applicants and his nights ignoring his buddies (Bradley Cooper and Danny Masterson) who badger him to join them for a drink. He starts saying yes to everything asked of him after grudgingly attending a motivational seminar featuring a self-help guru (Terrence Stamp).

Ten years ago Carrey would have spun this idea into comedy gold, but now he’s a little too long in the tooth to still be flailing about like a fool. I think he knows it, too, because he actually looks a little bored here. But his last serious effort, The Number 23, flopped, so he needed a hit.

Too often I merely chuckled at the high jinks the script puts him through, stuff that probably seemed hysterical on the page but somehow got stifled under the direction of Peyton Reed (Bring It On). Stuff like Carrey giving all his money to a homeless man, approving loans for people no matter the reason and falling down some stairs after refusing to do it with an elderly but libidinous female neighbor.

That’s not all. A scene where a drunken Carrey fights a guy in an alley behind a bar is not only unfunny but it makes Carrey look a little too pathetic. We’re also meant to find it sweet (as opposed to creepy) that he romances Zooey Deschanel, who’s about twenty years younger than him.

And yet flashes of the old, zany Carrey pop up every now and then to actually make us laugh. Like when he attempts to ride a motorcycle while wearing a hospital gown, drinks too much Red Bull and faints during orientation at a chicken processing plant. Not to mention jumping over a car when he sees a black cat. We also get one of the better give-me-one-more-chance endings I’ve seen in a while.

The supporting cast ably picks up some of Carrey’s slack, too, especially Christopher Guest-flick regular John Michael Higgins and the adorably sweet and quirky Deschanel (Elf). Even funnier is Rhys Darby (The Flight of the Conchords) as Carrey’s boss, a somewhat clueless but well-meaning guy who believes he can impress people with the fact that he has an “access card” to Costco. – [DVD]

Comedy/Romance

Rated PG-13

DVD Release Date: 4/7/09

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