SXSW Review: ‘The Yes Men Fix the World’

Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno, The Yes Men, want to fix the world. Â  Do they do it? Â  Not exactly. Â  What they do do is create elaborate pranks and gags by pretending to be members of powerful companies who have practiced less-than-moral ethics. Â  The Yes Men want to teach these companies a lesson, and they do so in increasingly detailed, ridiculous, and hilarious ways.

At first, they pose as Dow Chemical Company promising to liquidate Union Carbide and pay $12 billion towards medical care for the victims of the Bhopal chemical disaster. Â  Later, theyclaim to be members of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and promise to reopen public housing facilities HUD had closed down after Hurricane Katrina.

At first, what these guys are doing might seem not unlike Sacha Baron Cohen, encountering high-powered people and making attempts at ridiculing them. Â  What they are doing, however, goes so much deeper than Cohen, it’s hard not to feel a little pride in backing them.

Granted, you have to feel sorry for the people they give false hope to. Â  But the film never holds back to show the reactions of those these two give this false hope to. Â  They are never angry with the Yes Men. Â  They are always ecstatic that someone is out there hearing their plight and making an effort to make others hear it, too.

And that is how the Yes Men are fixing the world. Â  Granted, this film might be better suited to a different format. Â  Seeing one prank after another after another for 90 minutes gets somewhat tedious. Â  Perhaps a weekly television show would have helped us stay far more interested in the latter issues they raise.

Nonetheless, you have to admire (and keep yourself from over-applauding) what the film represents above being genuinely entertaining. Â  ‘The Yes Men Fix the World’, if nothing else, brings these men into the public eye. Â  The film may make a difference, yet.

Overall: 4 stars out of 5