The further adventures of Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno — not that those are necessarily their real names — are chronicled in “The Yes Men Are Revolting.”
The prankster activists here turn their imaginative shaming schemes toward those corporations and governments doing little to address (when they’re not actively enabling) the escalating global-warming crisis.
Co-directed with Laura Nix, the duo’s follow-up to “The Yes Men” (2003) and “The Yes Men Fix the World” (2009) is another entertaining mix of agitpop, pranksterism and autobiography.
The opening sequence brings back “The Yes Men Fix the World,” specifically its ludicrous, inflatable human “survivaballs” (think of Woody Allen’s inflatable suit in “Sleeper), as the protagonists hope to float a flotilla across the Hudson River to get the attention of a U.N. climate-change summit. (Alas, the Coast Guard and NYPD are unamused.)
After briefly recapping the twosome’s past protests and media coverage, the movie grows a little more personal this time around. No longer in their 20s, they both have university teaching posts to maintain, and have reached various levels of domestic stability: Bonanno now has a wife and two kids, while Bichlbaum has finally found a boyfriend he wants to “spend the rest of my life with.”
Their relationships have traditionally suffered, however, from the platonic-soulmate bond (“We’re each other’s perfect enablers”) between them, and the high time demands (with little financial reward) that being Yes Men has made on them. Bonanno once lost a girlfriend over this issue; she’s seen but not heard here. Bichlbaum’s beau might be headed for the exit too, unable to compete. During the movie’s several-years progress, they have to make some life decisions that will potentially break their joined-at-the-hip partnership.
Primarily, the film is still devoted to various actions, however, nearly all of which (with one flop exception involving a polar bear disguise) underline the amazing gullibility with which — at least to a point — high-ranking media, business and government personnel can be taken in by a well-staged prank.
Bichlbaum poses as the spokesman for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to announce a “carbon tax” recommendation on polluters; the actual agency responds by suing the Men for “commercial identity theft masquerading as social activism.”
They travel to Uganda to meet with local activist Chandia Kodili, then join her at a another U.N. climate change summit (this time in Copenhagen). There, they pull another hoax to raise the issue of paying “climate debts” to the low-consuming Third World countries that have suffered the worst consequences of First World nations’ environmental impact.
The dismaying results of that summit, which saw precious little meaningful regulatory progress, make the two wonder if what they’re doing has value at all. Bonanno moves with his family to Scotland, while Bichlbaum gets involved with Greenpeace in a very Yes Men-style prank, calling out Shell Oil’s drilling plans in fragile Arctic regions.
But they can’t stay apart for long, of course, particularly once Occupy Wall Street reawakens their faith in popular protest. The movie ends with their infiltration of a homeland security conference, where they succeed in getting attendees to stand in a circle singing and dancing an ersatz Native American song — suggesting even a roomful of defense contractors might think the time is ripe for us to downsize fossil-fuel dependence and raise our use of renewable energies.
The lively film incorporates news footage (reporting verbatim each fake news break, then dutifully announcing their exposure as hoaxes) and brief, amusing animation sequences into an activist documentary that’s about as easy as they come.
“The Yes Men Are Revolting” – 3 stars
MPAA rating: Not rated
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Running time: 1:31
Opens: Friday