When Does "Yes Man" (2008) Take Place?

"Yes Man" is a romantic-comedy film written by Nicholas Stoller with Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel that released December 19th, 2008. So when is "Yes Man" set? 


It takes place roughly in the year: 

2008 AD or 2009 AD 


We know this because the characters visit the real-world Los Angeles, California restaurant The Bigfoot Lodge, which opened in 1999 AD. So it must be during or after 1999 AD. 

More specifically, in the story’s big climax, Carl Allen rides his friend Lee’s Ducati Hypermotard motorcycle past many 2008 model vehicles. So it must be during or after 2008 AD. 

Earlier in the narrative, Carl rents the movie "300" (2007) on DVD at a Blockbuster video rental store (which only became available on home video in July of 2007). Due to the rise of digital streaming services and company mismanagement, only fifty-one Blockbuster locations remained open in North America by January of 2014 AD. So it is extremely likely before or during January of 2014 AD. 

Specifically, at one point Allison jokes, "Have you met my friend Ian? He's a computer hacker. He helped me erase your MySpace page, and your band's MySpace page, and your Facebook page. Happy networking, asshole!" Though the real-world social working platform MySpace launched on August 1st, 2003 AD and its real-world major competitor Facebook launched on February 4th, 2004 AD, MySpace held far more importance for several years, then, in April of 2008 AD, when MySpace was at its peak, the two websites had a nearly equal numbers of users and Facebook only surpassed MySpace’s user numbers in May of 2009 AD. So, despite the statement being a joke, it must be after February of 2004 AD and it is most likely between April of 2008 AD and May of 2009 AD when the two platforms were comparable and the joke would make sense, though both internet services still exist simultaneously today. 


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