Carl (Jim Carrey) challenges himself to say yes to everything in the comedy Yes Man. (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Yes Man seems way too familiar, like a patchwork of snippets from previous Jim Carrey movies. Let’s start with the premise. The rubber-faced star plays Carl Allen, a sourpuss who embodies negativity — he’s constantly refusing to go out with his friends and in his job as a loan officer, rejecting people is part of the daily routine. One evening, Carl heads to a seminar on positivity and makes a life-altering decision: from now on, whenever he’s asked to do something — anything! — he’ll say yes.

Jim Carrey struggles mightily to carry the comic load, flapping his rubbery limbs and contorting that flexible jaw. Yes Man offers plenty of shtick, but little story.

Where have we seen this before? Well, Carrey played a schlub who undergoes a major life-change in The Mask, Batman Forever, Bruce Almighty and Me, Myself & Irene. And Yes Man’s set-up bears a more-than-passing resemblance to the conceit of Liar Liar, in which his character — a fibbing lawyer — suddenly starts to tell the truth.

And yet there’s a scene early in Yes Man that reminds you of just how funny Carrey can be. When he meets up with his shocked pals at a bar, the transformation is breathtaking. Suddenly, he’s the life of the party, getting hammered and impetuously kissing a woman. When it turns out she’s attached, her beefy beau asks Carl if he wants to step outside and fight. Of course, he has to say yes.

What follows belongs on Carrey’s all-time highlight reel. Liberated from years of living at an emotional and physical remove, Carl is positively giddy as he gets beaten to a pulp. The more pain he absorbs, the more joyous he becomes; naturally, the guy pounding on him is confused. It’s vintage Carrey: the scene combines his astounding gifts for physical comedy and mimicry, with a dash of the sublimated rage that always seems to be part of his characters’ psychological makeup.

If only the rest of the movie was that good. After that initial geyser of comedy genius, the say-yes concept quickly dries up, laugh-wise. Suddenly uninhibited, Carl embarks on a series of “life-affirming” activities: overdosing on Red Bull, taking a spur-of-the-moment vacation to Nebraska, learning Korean, going bungee-jumping, taking guitar lessons and having a brief sexual encounter with an octogenarian. Carrey struggles mightily to carry the comic load, flapping his rubbery limbs and contorting that flexible jaw. Yes Man offers plenty of shtick, but little story.

Carl shows off his dance moves in Yes Man. (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Carrey isn’t given much help from the supporting cast. The delightful Zooey Deschanel is wasted as Carl’s love interest, Allison, an artistic free spirit who fronts an indie band. A scene in which she spouts embarrassingly confessional lyrics at a club falls dreadfully flat, and their different comic energies (he = frenzied, in-your-face; she = gentle, quirky) never really connect.

At work, Carl has to contend with his numbskull boss Norman, who’s desperate to be his friend. Rhys Darby (from HBO’s Flight of the Conchords) plays Norman as a kind of bleak, self-absorbed David Brent knock-off, but with none of the wit offered up in The Office. The considerable talents of Terence Stamp and John Michael Higgins are underutilized in small roles as proselytizers for the “Yes” movement.

Now 46, Jim Carrey is at an interesting stage in his career. It’s tough not to notice that Deschanel and the actors who play Carl’s friends (Bradley Cooper and Danny Masterson) are a decade and a half younger than the star. Carrey is ensconced in middle age, but still limber enough to do physical comedy. Yes Man is the kind of movie he can do in his sleep, and no doubt it’ll do well at the holiday box office. But you suspect that Carrey ultimately wants more than these one-note cash cows on his resume. Besides, how many gifted slapstick comedians thrive into their 50s and 60s?

Carrey’s stabs at drama have produced mixed results so far (good notices in The Truman Show, the sound of crickets chirping after The Majestic and The Number 23). Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Michel Gondry’s wondrous hall of mirrors, is the only drama that has figured out how to utilize Carrey’s singular talents. Scripts that good, however, are few and far between.

Carrey’s next comedy, I Love You Philip Morris, at least sounds different: it’s been described as Catch Me If You Can meets Brokeback Mountain. In the meantime, we’re left to contemplate him in the unambitious Yes Man where, left pretty much to his own devices, this comic tsunami peters out.

Yes Man opens Dec. 19.

Greig Dymond writes about the arts for CBCNews.ca.