Accidental Aesop: As a motivational speaker, be careful of how you present your message(s) to your audience because they may end up taking them the wrong way and it can lead to them doing dangerous and/or humiliating things.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Carl getting his car towed by himself, before his other self mocks him for being a "no man". Carl runs away in horror, the other Carl calls him a jackoff and is never seen again. Due to the ambiguity of his titular "yes man" behavior, it's unknown if it's the covenant playing tricks with his mind, or if it's just his mind itself.
Critical Dissonance: Critics were divided on the film, while audience reception was more forgiving. It became Jim Carrey's second highest-grossing film, though not able to out-gross his highest-grossing film Bruce Almighty.
Heartwarming Moments: Carl cheering up the tearful and grumpy lady in the wedding caterer's parlour, simply by speaking to her in her mother tongue (Korean) thus proving that he would listen to her. After she vents to him about how uncared-for she feels and Carl reassuring her, she is more than happy to help him pick everything. He later sets her up with his former boss, to great success.
With references to the mid-2000s indie scene, MySpace, and early 2000s movies, this movie might result as a rather interesting time capsule.
Part of the plot involves Carl being commended and given a promotion for earning huge profits for his bank, a storyline that you'd now be very unlikely to see after the financial crash that occurred around the time the movie was released. Mitigated a little in that the bank's directors, while not out-and-out Corrupt Corporate Executives, are depicted as cold-hearted individuals who are quite happy to shut down branches that aren't sufficiently profitable, without any regard for their employees.
