REEL CRITICS:

Jim Carrey cavorts across the screen in “Yes Man” by revising the hyperactive persona he displayed in “Bruce Almighty” and “Liar Liar.” His amusing antics and rubber face are the highlights of this otherwise predictable rendering of the romantic comedy formula.

The story begins when Carrey’s character attends a self-help seminar that teaches him to say “yes” to every life situation that comes his way.

He takes this philosophy to heart in the extreme. He begins to follow whatever path is required by each chance opportunity that occurs. This plot device allows for many unusual developments that alternate between being charming or silly.

Zooey Deschanel plays the sweet babe and love interest who drives the romantic part of the formula. Carrey drives the comic portion of the recipe by mixing absurd actions with kind intentions.

It’s all been done before, but this PG-13 film comes with a good heart and enough good laughs to rake in $89 million at the box office so far. I guess that qualifies as formula success.

Last chance for romance

Having gleaned all I needed to know about “Bride Wars” from the interminable trailers, it seemed a good idea to check out a more grown-up look at romance in “Last Chance Harvey,” and I was so glad I did.

Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman) has arrived in London for his daughter’s wedding. He’s dismayed to find out his boss doesn’t need him to come back to work and his daughter wants to ask her stepfather, not Harvey, to give her away.

Meanwhile, Kate Walker (Emma Thompson) leads a drab existence between work and incessant calls from her mother (“she’s a human contraceptive”) and the occasional blind date who makes her wish she’d stayed home.

Harvey and Kate meet in an airport lounge and it’s sarcasm at first sight. Yet they strike a chord and wind up spending the day together, walking and talking on the London streets and getting to know each other.

The movie is like “Before Sunrise” for the more mature set, and Hoffman has seldom been given the chance to be this charming and vulnerable since “Tootsie.” Thompson plays a lovely if slightly faded rose, thorns and all, and the chemistry between the two stars is natural and graceful.

Falling in love doesn’t always happen with a lot of sex and show like in the movies; sometimes it has to start out with falling “in like.”

Even if this movie’s ending is a foregone conclusion, it’s the charming little journey that makes it all worthwhile.

JOHN DEPKO is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator for the Orange County public defender’s office. SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant for a financial services company.