Passenger side door won't open

[kornphlake]

Amidst a myriad of other problems our 2001 sienna XLE has had, the passenger side front door now doesn't want to open from the outside handle and occasionally from the inside handle.

I haven't had the time to tear the door panel off (that would make it match the rest of the interior panels that were removed to pull out the soaked carpet from a mysterious leak around the rear hatch) It might be one of the connecting rods has slipped off the clip that attaches it to the lock mechanisim, but the problem has been intermittent which suggests to me it's the latch mechanisim itself that is a little sticky. Has anybody had a similar problem? Any advice on how to get to the latch mechanisim without having to dislocate every joint between your shoulder and thumb?