Despite the recession, moviegoers turned out as they always do this time of year, but if the reviews are any indication, they probably didn't enjoy themselves too much. The top three movies in the country all overcame (or partially overcame, anyway) toxic buzz to get some Joementum heading into Christmas: The Jim Carrey comedy Yes Man ("Carrey has bled the well dry, doing everything he knows how to do, over and over again, just to prove that he still knows how to do it." —Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com) took first place with $18.1 million, barely edging out the $16 million raked by Will Smith's critical whipping boy, Seven Pounds ("Among the most transcendently, eye-poppingly, call-your-friend-ranting-in-the-middle-of-the-night-just-to-go-over-it-one-more-time crazily awful motion pictures ever made." —A.O. Scott, New York Times). The week's other wide release, the sub-Ratatouille cartoon The Tale Of Despereaux, limping into third with $10.5 million.