Yes, Man (2008)

"Yes Man" is pure Jim Carrey. Actually it's pure "Liar, Liar" re-tooled. There, Carrey played a lawyer who couldn't tell a lie. Here, he plays a banker who can't say, "No." Hi-jinks ensure as a homeless guy bums a ride, Jehovah's Witnesses visit the door, an old woman offers oral pleasure and a chance to bungee jump presents itself. The list goes on, and the film is elementary to the point of distraction. (Carrey's banker is never offered anything truly outrageously soul-scarring. How disappointing.)

But "Yes Man" is funny and pretends to be nothing more than what it is: The 1,000th coming of Carrey's ancient "In Living Color" days. Zooey Deschanel, a knock-out star in her own right, plays the perplexed girlfriend with a zippy bike and a cute helmet. Terrance Stamp -- again -- plays a cult-like leader, this one preaching the word of, "Yes." Worth a watch. Mostly. B-

Get Smart (2008)

"Get Smart" is a goofy-fun spin on the TV classic, with the hilarious, deadpan Steve Carell taking over for the late Don Adams. The plot is the same: Agent 86 Maxwell Smart works for Control, a top-secret U.S. government spy agency tasked with defeating the evil conglomerate Chaos. Here, Smart is teamed with Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway, also dead pan funny) to hunt missing nuclear materials in the former Soviet Union.

The investigation and hunt is peppered with the same slapstick comedy, tongue-twister jokes and bawdy humor that made the show wildly funny, including a scene where Smart wakes up after an accident and discovers that 99 has dressed him in a tuxedo, and traded his briefs for boxers. The action is bigger here than the TV show, but most of it manages to stay in the shadow of comedy.

Alan Arkin steals the film with just a few scenes where his old guy plays tough, or nearly dies at the end of a swordfish. Terence "Kneel before Zod" Stamp plays the villain, perfectly menacing and hilarious. James Caan appears as a U.S. president who can't quite pronounce "nuclear" and continues reading a book to children during a national disaster. B