I had seen a review of The Yes Men on an episode of Ebert & Roeper a month or so ago, and the film looked interesting, despite the disagreement on the merits of the film from the two critics. I didn't think that I'd get the opportunity to see it, but lo and behold, it appeared on the schedule for the local indie theater. Next up was the debate on whether or not I would actually make the drive out to see it. I guess, by the fact that I'm writing a review you can guess what my decision was.
I walked out of the theater with mixed feelings. While watching the film I wasn't sure whether to laugh, or just feel depressed over the state of the world. And when I did laugh, I didn't know if I was laughing at the absurdity of the situations, or the gullibility of those swallowing the swill the Yes Men were shoveling.
For those of you, probably a lot of you, who are unfamiliar with this movie, allow me to give you a quick overview of what the Yes Men are. This is my first exposure to them as well, so please forgive me if you find any of my information to be inaccurate. Most of this I gleaned from the film itself. It started in the late 90's when they were offered an oinline domain, gwbush.org. They used the domain to create a parody site of George W. Bush's own site. The site looked almost exactly the same, but the content was twisting a lot of the inaccuriacies that Bush had on his own site. The success of this site brought them to gatt.org, GATT was the precursor to the World Trade Organization. So, they make a WTO parody site which, like the Bush site, looks just like the real thing. This is where it gets interesting and is the main focus of the film.
Apparently, there are people around the world that believe they are the actual WTO. So, they get invitations to appear at various conventions, and even to appear on television, such as CNBC. They, of course, accept these invitations and set out to present themselves to the best of their ability, which usually involves outlandish props and speeches which present ideals which the WTO seems to support but don't come right out and say. Each time they make an appearance they are prepared to have their bluff called and their plans shutdown, but surprisingly, nobody seems to catch on.
The first speech we see them prepare for and then deliver required months of preparation. They are to speak on the future of textiles. To do this they design a managerial leisure suit which allows them to remain active, yet build rapport with a remote work force. This has to be seen to be believed. The suit is a gold spandex and features a giant phallus with a video screen, not to mention some great computer animations. And the best thing is the way that the crowd just accepts it. The other big setup has them speaking on hunger in the third world and the use of the re-burger, which I will not describe here, but it is a hilarious idea. This idea morphs into another due to some unforseen circumstances. These guys know how to adapt to the situation. And this doesn't even get into the TV appearances.
I had a surprising lack of opinion upon leaving. On one hand it was hilarious, the ideas that they were proposing in the name of the WTO were just so out there. On the other hand, it makes you feel sorry for the world that swallows it. The fact that there is an organization that can push similar ideals in a language twisted to appear like somehing else is, well, shameful. The film itself shows us these speeches in an entertaining way, but I couldn't but feel that it could have been much better.
The one thing that is bright spot, is the only ones to cut through the BS and confront them are a group of college students. There is hope in the minds of the future.
Mildly Recommended.
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