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CONTACT THE HERALD |
Melanie Munk, Features Editor
munk@heraldnet.com |
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Published: Friday, November 27, 2009
'The Yes Men Fix the World' still get laughs at corporate America's expense
By Robert Horton Herald Movie Critic
The Yes Men are expert pranksters who prove that ridicule is a viable method of political commentary. At least most of the time.
Their
first feature documentary was simply called “The Yes Men,” a frequently
hilarious account of how they punked corporations into believing their
ruses. Think of them as Ashton Kutcher with a political agenda.
Despite
the grander title of their second feature, “The Yes Men Fix the World,”
this movie's more of the same. Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonnano are
still setting up their bogus Web sites and parading into corporate
conferences pretending to be people they're not.
These Web sites
are so authentic-looking that corporations and TV news networks blindly
invite Bichlbaum and Bonnano (under a variety of colorful aliases) to
participate in their activities.
One of the film's big pranks
puts Bichlbaum on a live BBC news broadcast around the anniversary of
the Bhopal chemical disaster. Pretending to be a spokesman for Dow
Chemical (which owns Union Carbide, whose pesticide plant leaked and
killed thousands), Bichlbaum announced that the company was ending
decades of legal wrangling by giving away $12 billion in compensation
to the victims of the 1984 gas leak.
Dow's stock price promptly
plummeted by $2 billion or so, the hoax was exposed , and the Yes Men
were taken to task for toying with the feelings of Bhopal residents.
But when they travel to India, locals are wryly amused by the prank —
which at least brought attention to an issue that had fallen off the
front pages.
In a much goofier stunt, the Yes Men construct a
“Survivaball” suit, designed for wearing in case of disaster. This
thing looks like the mascot get-up for a football team called the
Blobs, but a roomful of Halliburton representatives watch a
demonstration of the Survivaball's qualities with straight faces. (It
is not known whether Dick Cheney owns one for his personal use.)
In
their most deviously funny bit, Bichlbaum and Bonnano appear at a
corporate conference as Exxon researchers who have found a way to
transform human remains into long-lasting, energy-efficient biofuel.
They've
handed out samples of this new fuel as candles to the gathered
convention-goers, whose faces curdle as they are told what went into
them.
The Yes Men never lose track of their serious point,
despite the craziness: if you follow a certain kind of corporate
thinking to its logical end, then issues such as using corpses for fuel
or re-instating human slavery become perfectly logical.
And they
hope viewers will be appalled by that. “Yes Men Fix the World” isn't
quite as consistently funny as the team's first film and the initial
surprise of their shtick has worn off. But their purpose comes across
loud and clear.
Bonus event: Yes Man Andy Bichlbaum will appear
at evening screenings of the film at the Northwest Film Forum, tonight
through Sunday. Presumably as himself.
“The Yes Men Fix the World” ½
Another
feature documentary from the team of pranksters known as the Yes Men.
Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonnano specialize in fooling corporations into
inviting them to give outlandishly absurd presentations at conferences
— the better to point out the absurdity of corporate practices. This
one's not as consistently funny as the first “Yes Men” film, but their
point still comes across.
Rated: Not rated, probably PG-13 for subject matter
Showing: Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., Seattle
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