I don't often venture into the world of artistic processing, but one boring evening I played around ...
The action
(Mac users, you might have to Option-click the link to make it work.)
What does it do?
It simply adds four adjustment layers to your file, which provide four different types of "bright". You can toggle them all to find one that suits your image.
Notes
This isn't meant to be a rescue action for dark photos. It works best on already clean-processed images.
I make no promises. On some photos, these styles will look great; on others they'll look like tripe :D
Oh, by the way, it won't work in Elements, sorry :(
If you have a question about this action, or any Photoshop question, please visit me at my "Ask Damien" Facebook page.
All content © Damien Symonds 2012