The Yes Men Fix The World
90 minutes,
USA/France (2009), 12A
Average user rating 
(2.6 / 7 votes)
(2.6 / 7 votes)
The absurdist American pranksters make absolutely everything alright via a series of elaborate stunts
Director:
The Yes Men Fix The World Review
By Richard Luck
The absurdist American pranksters make absolutely everything alright via a series of elaborate stunts
In case you haven't seen their eponymous debut film, The Yes Men are political activists Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno. Actually, that's not true, since Bichlbaum and Bonanno are the alter egos of performers Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos. However, it's under their pseudonyms that the duo have wrought havoc, pulling stunts that have destroyed the share values of major corporations and convinced everyone from top CEOs to CNN that the most remarkable of things are afoot.
The Yes Men Fix The World is packed with equally audacious gags. So we get Bichlbaum appearing on BBC News 24 as a Dow Chemical executive willing to apologise for the 1984 Bhopal industrial disaster, which left tens of thousands dead. We see the pair show up at an energy symposium suggesting that the fossil fuel problem could be solved were the world willing to burn the body fat of the recently departed, and we find the duo distributing a special 'good news' edition of the 'New York Times' outside Grand Central Station.
Coming on like Jackass crossed with The Corporation, The Yes Men Fix The World remains admirable as long as our heroes are trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the powerful and greedy. Some of the stunts are brilliantly realized (the faux 'NYT' is a dead ringer for the real thing) and when Bichlbaum strides into the BBC's Paris studios ready to wipe millions off Dow's shares, it's impossible not to be impressed by his chutzpah.
The problems with the Yes Men's approach emerge only once the gig is up. For while there's something exciting about doing down Dow for refusing to properly compensate the victims of Bhopal, the news that the share price crashed could lead to a lot of blameless people losing their jobs. And while the team takes a trip to India to assure us that the good citizens of Bhopal didn't object to the Yes Men's meddling (the victims have been waiting for compensation for some 25 years), again you can't help thinking the stunts injure those they're supposed to empower.
More offensive still is the fey innocence of Messrs Bichlbaum and Bonanno. Quick to protest that they are only exposing the inadequacies of the real world, the pair seem unaware of their own shortcomings. Happy to irritate but unwilling to engage, the Yes Men might think they are taking the fight to corporate America. But with their whinging tongues and effete posturing, Bichlbaum and Bonanno have the demeanor of victims - which is rich given they that they themselves have lost very little.
The Yes Men Fix The World is packed with equally audacious gags. So we get Bichlbaum appearing on BBC News 24 as a Dow Chemical executive willing to apologise for the 1984 Bhopal industrial disaster, which left tens of thousands dead. We see the pair show up at an energy symposium suggesting that the fossil fuel problem could be solved were the world willing to burn the body fat of the recently departed, and we find the duo distributing a special 'good news' edition of the 'New York Times' outside Grand Central Station.
Coming on like Jackass crossed with The Corporation, The Yes Men Fix The World remains admirable as long as our heroes are trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the powerful and greedy. Some of the stunts are brilliantly realized (the faux 'NYT' is a dead ringer for the real thing) and when Bichlbaum strides into the BBC's Paris studios ready to wipe millions off Dow's shares, it's impossible not to be impressed by his chutzpah.
The problems with the Yes Men's approach emerge only once the gig is up. For while there's something exciting about doing down Dow for refusing to properly compensate the victims of Bhopal, the news that the share price crashed could lead to a lot of blameless people losing their jobs. And while the team takes a trip to India to assure us that the good citizens of Bhopal didn't object to the Yes Men's meddling (the victims have been waiting for compensation for some 25 years), again you can't help thinking the stunts injure those they're supposed to empower.
More offensive still is the fey innocence of Messrs Bichlbaum and Bonanno. Quick to protest that they are only exposing the inadequacies of the real world, the pair seem unaware of their own shortcomings. Happy to irritate but unwilling to engage, the Yes Men might think they are taking the fight to corporate America. But with their whinging tongues and effete posturing, Bichlbaum and Bonanno have the demeanor of victims - which is rich given they that they themselves have lost very little.
Verdict
Occasionally funny and often audacious, but this is too smug to satisfy and too much like Ashton Kutcher's 'Punk'd' to be considered cutting edge.
Occasionally funny and often audacious, but this is too smug to satisfy and too much like Ashton Kutcher's 'Punk'd' to be considered cutting edge.
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