Pretty Good

From my favorite movies..

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Trouble-making duo Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno, posing as their industrious alter-egos, expose the people profiting from Hurricane Katrina, the faces behind the environmental disaster in Bhopal, and other shocking events.These guys take on the disaster at Bhopal, the idea of human candles and discuss the wetlands' effect on Hurricane Katrina. Although they are not always successful (in fact, they seem to persuade almost no one) they are excellent at educating through the argument to absurdity.These guys are clearly biased. While it is never explicitly stated that they are left or right, it seems pretty clear they tend to favor the liberal view. This may not sit well with some viewers and sit very well with others. I do not know -- clearly if you are pro-business or anti-business, you will look at this differently than others who have no opinion.

The basic tenants of The Yes Men are things you need to either accept or reject. Their beliefs are decidedly anti-corporate and feel that much more government regulation is needed. A rather simplistic answer to complex problems if you ask me.The film consists of two anti-corporate jokesters pulling off hoax after hoax to expose the evils of corporations. The track record of Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum in this film is mixed--some of their hoaxes seem to work and make their points better than others.Their best hoax and strongest case is their first, as they pose as executives from Dow Chemical/Union-Carbide. In an interview with the BBC, they announced that ALL the assets of Union-Carbide are being liquidated to FINALLY pay off the victims of the Bhopal disaster in India--decades after thousands were killed. It appears that thanks to complicit government officials, the company had paid a pittance to the victims and survivors--and the mess was STILL just sitting there waiting to be cleaned up!! And, according to these pranksters, this was immoral and liquidation was the only solution. This was picked up in the media throughout the world and actually caused Dow Chemical stock to drop temporarily.Others, such as their attacks on Exxon and Halliburton, while funny, were also a lot less clear. Bonanno and Bichlbaum didn't seem to think they needed to prove these corporate entities were bad or how they were bad--they just were BECAUSE they were huge corporations. But, despite this HUGE problem, their stunts were quite funny--such as the so-called 'Surviva-ball' and candles made out of humans in order to combat the energy crisis! Overall, while I often disagreed with the film, it was clever and took LOTS of effort to pull off these many stunts. This film surely has contributed to the recent Occupy Movement. But what none of these people ever do is point out WHAT needs to be done and HOW. Communism didn't work and Socialist Europe is about to go bankrupt. So what are the solutions? Killing off the corporations certainly isn't the solution and despite decades of government regulation, things are far from perfect. So what do we do next? By the way, these crazy things you see from the film are available from their website--even the Surviva-ball!

I know, I know, that was a lame review title. Get over it.I could go on and on about these guys but the simple truth is : they are simply great people. As a regular dude, how many times do you find yourself watching TV filled with stuff you get sick of ? My lucky guess would be plenty and I'd be probably far off.Those two guys did funny pranks but the most brilliants ones are those you feel deserved by their targets. Some major company loose a ton of money because of a fake statement that would grant due money to workers in India. In the end, they hit where it hurts the most, money.And the beauty of this film isn't just the pranks, it's why it works in the world we live in. It doesn't mater if they bring a golden skeleton to describe profit over factory workers deaths, you realize that whatever they would bring, someone will be interested as long as it means money.They might be crazy but the people they meet during fake presentations are sick, and they are powerful people. Thats world business grotesque at it's best for you.I'd definitively put this on "must watch" list if you happen to wonder our state of evolution sometimes, just to be sure.

Despite the fact that some people seem to feel that it is cruel to state that Dow Chemical accepts full responsibility for the Bhopal catastrophe, or that HUD (the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) wants to give former inhabitants of houses in New Orleans back their apartments, the affected people don't seem to think so. They're happy that people bring attention to their problem, and doing so by adding humor to it is often what is needed in a dour political climate such as these examples show, when multi-national corporations rule international business and - indeed - politics for most part.Much like Bill Hicks showed us, adding humor as spice often brings attention to the facts. The Yes Men were sharper in their previous film, but this one is still very valid as they continue to show the dangers of a free market taking over interests only to make as much money for their shareholders as is possible, not existing in the interest for the state at all.