''The Yes Men'' is a 2003 American documentary film about the early culture jamming exploits of The Yes Men. The film revolves around "The Yes Men" — two anti-globalization activists, under the aliases Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno — who impersonate spokespeople for the WTO and affiliated corporations in order to secretly lampoon and

satirize Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposing ...

these organizations with elaborate ruses and fraudulent announcements of ridiculous corporate decisions, in front of live, unsuspecting audiences (usually comprising businesspeople, university student bodies, and the press). The film details the two activists' involvement in hoaxes targeting SimCopter, the 2000 G. W. Bush presidential campaign,

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

, and, most prominently, the WTO. The film also includes brief interviews with

Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. Moore's work frequently addresses various Social issue, social, political, and economic topics. He first became publicly known for his award-winning debut ...

and Greg Palast. The film premiered at the 28th Toronto International Film Festival in 2003. It was also shown as part of a special screening at the 2004

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

. The film received generally positive reviews from critics. It is followed by a sequel, '' The Yes Men Fix the World''.

Reception

Peter Travers of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' gave it 3 out of 5 stars and called the film "Subversive and diabolically funny."

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' gave it 3 out of 4 stars, and wrote: "Amazing in what it shows, but underwhelming in what it does with it."

References

External links

The Yes Men website
* 2003 comedy films 2004 documentary films 2004 films 2003 films American business films Documentary films about business The Yes Men United Artists films Films about activists Films directed by Chris Smith Films shot in London Films shot in New York City Films shot in Paris Films shot in Sydney Films shot in Tampere Anti-corporate activism 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language documentary films {{arts-documentary-film-stub fr:The Yes Men