NEW Yes Men Fix The World (DVD)

its so good.
theyre nervy and poised and quick on their feet and my idols.
but the amazingness is in peoples' reactions to them. a freakin' case study in human psychology.
both really uplifting and quite sad too, but (like the daily show) at least the sad is sugarcoated with hilarity.

These Yes Men are courageous, perhaps the most important ingredient, for any budding, if not seasoned social activist. If a person wants to be "serious" activist and is seriously committed to saving the world so to speak, he or she must also know how to laugh, play an honest prank every now and then, or plain language know how to have a good time. A highlight of the film is when the Yes Men go on television as I recall, as a CEO for Union Carbide, promising to adequately pay up to the victims of the terrible , Bhopal incident in the 1980's where thousands died and Union Carbide insisted on blaming the incident on an inept worker. Immediately, thereafter, the stock plummeted, one of many illustrations that a profit oriented society obviously puts greed before human need. They get the facts right out there and hopefully people will see that greed is not good.

An admirer of activist-pranksters the Yes Men, I took high hopes to their 2003 eponymous documentary and despite several amusing scenes, the film's erratic pace left me let down. However, with their 2010 follow-up film THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD, the Yes Men - Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonnano - seem to have learned as much about making movies as they know about fooling corporations and the media. THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD shows the Yes Men are still going strong with raising awareness in their unique, funny style, but we also see Bichlbaum and Bonnano are now well up to speed when it comes to presenting their work to the movie viewing public.

THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD follows Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonnano through five stunts and at times we feel as nervous as they must as a gag commences. All the tricks they pull amuse and educate, the biggest Bichlbaum posing as a Dow Chemical spokesperson who announces, via a worldwide B.B.C. NEWS telecast, that the company would spend $12 billion to compensate victims of the 1984 Bhopal pesticide plant catastrophe, which was caused by the company Dow had later purchased, Union Carbide.

The gag I like best wraps up THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD, where they publish a fake NEW YORK TIMES with news so fit to print, it isn't true. Stories include immediate, complete United States withdrawal from Iraq; a maximum wage for corporate executives; and the indictment of George W. Bush for high treason. The print edition is a collector's item but you can find the on-line Yes Men NEW YORK TIMES via exact phrase search "The Yes Men" and all the words "New York Times."

See THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD.