Dec. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Jim Carrey’s “Yes Man” unfolds like a variation on his 1997 comedy, “Liar Liar.” This time around, he’s less clever and older, if not wiser.

Carrey plays Carl Allen, a bitter, lonely loan officer still mourning his divorce after three years. His friends Peter (Bradley Cooper) and Rooney (Danny Masterson) are at a loss to revive his social life. Carl says “no” to everything, preferring to stay home and wallow in his misery.

His bitterness extends to the workplace. His boss (Rhys Darby, of HBO’s “Flight of the Conchords”) pressures him to attend stupid parties. He hates dealing with people and rejects most of their loan applications (something that may resonate well with many Americans). He’s bored.

This all changes when he falls under the spell of self-help guru Terrence Bundley (Terence Stamp), who encourages Carl to start saying “yes” to every opportunity that presents itself.

In “Liar Liar,” Carrey faced a similar dilemma when he was magically forced to tell the truth no matter what; in “Yes Man” the star’s familiar manic gesticulations remind you that was 11 years ago, and in that time his face has lost its youthful elasticity.

At work, he starts approving loans and taking chances on applicants, later landing a promotion; he helps random strangers; he talks a man out of a suicide attempt; he learns to play the guitar; and, of course, he falls in love.

New Hope

After helping out a homeless man, Carl meets Allison (Zooey Deschanel), a -- surprise! -- much younger woman who’s free- spirited and beautiful. She awakens a new sense of hope in him and helps him learn to appreciate life.

Carrey and Deschanel have a sweet onscreen chemistry. Their foibles, however, and the obstacles they face before the inevitable happy ending seem obvious and contrived.

“Yes Man,” directed by Peyton Reed (“The Break-Up”), is loosely based on the memoirs of Danny Wallace, a writer who actually endeavored to say “yes” for a year as a social experiment of sorts. The script is the work of Nicholas Stoller (“Forgetting Sarah Marshall”), Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel. Maybe there were too many heads at work here.

“Yes Man,” from Warner Bros., opens Friday across the U.S. Rating: **

‘Tale of Despereaux’

“The Tale of Despereaux” is an animated fantasy about a huge-eared mouse who’s been banished to a dungeon in the dreary kingdom of Dor. There’s a rat named Roscuro, a beautiful Princess named Pea and a heartbroken king who’s plunged his kingdom into darkness.

Kate DiCamillo’s 2004 Newbury Medal-winning novel, “Despereaux,” is a fine story, with subtleties and intricacies galore. This moody adaptation boasts a cast of celebrity voices led by Dustin Hoffman, Matthew Broderick and Emma Watson, yet it rarely rises above the mundane.

Co-directed by Sam Fell and Ryan Kavanaugh, “Despereaux” follows three storylines, the interweaving of which is far from seamless.

First, there’s guilt-ridden Roscuro (Hoffman). Back when Dor was full of light and happiness, soup was just about the most celebrated thing in the land. Roscuro ruined that after falling into the queen’s soup bowl, tainting it with his rat germs and causing her death. The grief-stricken king banished soup and rats, dimming the kingdom and condemning Roscuro to life in the dungeon.

Non-Conformist Mouse

The title character, Despereaux Tilling (Broderick), is a non-conforming, non-cowering mouse whose zest for reading and adventure -- as well as his brazen habit of talking to humans -- get him ousted from Mouse Land. He’s sent to the dungeon, where he meets Roscuro and falls in love with Princess Pea (Watson), who inhabits her own, symbolic dungeon created out of her father’s sadness.

DiCamillo’s poignant moralizing is handled clumsily, especially when overlaid with Sigourney Weaver’s strangely detached narration. By the end, you don’t care enough for the characters, and you’re ready for a nap.

Other familiar voices include Kevin Kline, Frank Langella, Christopher Lloyd, William H. Macy, Stanley Tucci and Tracey Ullman.

“The Tale of Despereaux,” from Universal Pictures, opens Friday across the U.S. Rating: *1/2

What the Stars Mean:

****          Excellent
***           Good
**            Average
*             Poor
(No stars)    Worthless

(Morgan Grice is a reporter for Bloomberg News in New York. The opinions expressed are her own.)

To contact the writer of this story: Morgan Grice in New York at mgrice@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 18, 2008 00:00 EST