The Yes Men Fix the World

Release Date (UK) - 7 August 2009

Certificate (UK) - 12A

Country - France / USA

Director - Andy Bichlbaum & Mike Bonanno

Runtime - 87 mins

Starring - Andy Bichlbaum & Mike Bonanno

Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno are the Yes Men, two political pranksters who target corporate companies trying to 'fix the world', mainly by making fake announcements as representatives from these companies that are more ethical or highlight how inhumane these corporations can be. This film follows several of their pranks such as Andy impersonating a Dow representative on the BBC World news channel apologising for the Bhopal disaster that killed thousands of Indians and promising to compensate those affected.

Its sometimes unwatchable as you cant believe they have the dare to come out with the things they do at such big conferences but the reactions of the people they announce their fake ideas too is the most interesting part of the film, from those who believe there absurd announcements are true to the reactions of the press when they discovered to be pranksters. This examination of reactions is similar to Sacha Baren Cohens' films but here the satire is questioned by the media backlash after their stunts. The Yes Men are highlighting some key issues, and the media have often criticised them for giving false hope to victims but Andy and Mike challenge this by going to visit the people they had supposedly hurt and their reactions are usually the opposite - they end up thanking Andy and Mike for highlighting their plight.

Though their actions are really interesting and this film is worth a watch as a documentary it doesn't really come together. There motivations are not explained (I got the feeling they may have worked for a corporate company in the past but this is a real stab on the dark) and between pranks there are bizarre constructed scenes of them discussing their plans which just feel odd and lack comic timing. This aside the film is an eye opener on certain corporations and is getting issues like the Bhopal tragedy the publicity it deserves.