About ten year ago,I had the pleasure of attending an evening of political humour in Hartford,Ct. One of the performances was half of a pair of pranksters known as The Yes Men (both were supposed to be in attendance that night,but only Andy Bichlbaum was present,as Mike Bonnano was home in bed that night,sick with the flu). Andy spoke of their pranks,especially disrupting the W.T.O. conference,posing as the CEO's of a financial firm. He screened a video of the prank. I,suffice it to say,was in awe. Some years later,the first Yes Men film made it's debut,which I was impressed with. Now,some years later, the second film is here. The documentary focuses on some of the pranks that they've pulled since then. Among the standouts,Andy Bichlbaum made an appearance on BBC,posing as a executive from Dow Chemical,making the announcement that Dow is finally taking responsibility for the 1984 Union Carbide chemical lead disaster in Bhopal,India (which of course,never happened,but it did cause Dow to take a major drop in their shareholders on Wall Street),as well as their posing as members of HUD (Housing & Urban Development),appearing in New Orleans,just after Hurricane Katrina,with the promise that HUD was finally going to do something about rebuilding there. Bichlbaum & Bonnano share credit for writing & directing this scathing,but funny documentary about two men who have a penchant for pranking people that they don't like much. Passing resemblance's to the films of Michael Moore,as well as a rather obscure fake documentary (mockumentary?)called 'Czech Dreams' from a few years back will be noticed. Not rated by the MPAA,this film has a rude word or two & some mild adult situations that would probably fly over the heads of children.
