The Yes Men (2004)

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Two self-proclaimed activists impersonating representatives of the World Trade Organisation challenge accepted capitalist thinking in an attempt to set the world to rights.

Or rather two smug middle class white American men stage a series of weak skits and juvenile parodies, claiming it “makes people think about the problems of the Third World” but in fact seems to be more about attention seeking and self-aggrandisement. Amongst their “hilarious” parodies are a lecture including a “management suit” which is a gold lame bodysuit with an enormous protruding phallus and a video showing a pipeline transporting the excrement of the west to create “shit burgers” for the Third World. Oh, my sides. The reason that their audiences do not realise that they’re a parody act may be because they display the level of wit of a ten year old and are just plain unfunny. They bother to produce some of the disturbing facts and figures of world capitalism at the very, very end of the film but the rest seems to concern itself solely with how “dangerous” and “heroic” they themselves are.

Whatever you think of Michael Moore’s politics, his approach is invariably wittier, more insightful, more informative and most of all, far more entertaining than this frat house-style publicity seeking.

3.5/10

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