Starring Jennifer Garner, Édgar Ramírez, and Jenna Ortega.
Directed by Miguel Arteta
Rating: *
Seldom do I come away from any film without some redeeming quality to hold on to. Yes Day is an exception. There is absolutely nothing in it worth our while. Stupid, and proud to be so. Fatuous, and eager to prove it is nothing else. Dumb to the point of utter consternation. How on earth did the talented lead actors agree to be part of something that they would have to hide from their children?
Children play an essential part in this riotous but emptied-out trashcan of a film. The three children of the Torres family feel their parents do not give them the freedom to have fun. Perturbed by their disgruntled attitude, the parents played by the gifted Jennifer Garner and Edgar Ramirez decide to give their kids the equivalent of a cheat day, a “yes day” when the children can do anything they like and their parents won’t stop them.That’s it!
Whoever thought this idea would work deserves two awards: one for optimism and the other for braindead ideating. The entire film is a series of gags with characters throwing bubbles and foam, balloons and cakes at each other and laughing out loud to convince themselves they are in this for fun when they are actually in it for the zeroes on their cheques, and never mind the zero results achieved in showing how kids having fun can also be a good way for adults to enjoy themselves.
If you ask me the intellect-arrested antics of Yes Day are not funny to either kids or grownups. The script writers run out of steam after 20 minutes and fill up the rest of the film with dumb-ass gags and adventures that only the mentally challenged would find even remotely amusing.
Towards the end mom Jennifer Garner trails her teenaged daughter Katie (Jenna Ortega) to a music concert where they both sing the classic Four Tops’ number ‘Baby I Need Your Loving’ and then go home. We would gladly do the same. Except that we ARE at home, cringing, watching Netflix make a fool of itself by asking top-notch stars to make a fool of themselves in a film that has no room for basic common sense let alone intelligence.
Not one performance or one plot point was even remotely amusing.
It is sad to see Jennifer Garner, so moving in Miracles From Heaven reduced to mimicking the manequinned version of an indulgent Mom. As for Edgar Ramirez, he once played the dreaded terrorist Carlos. This is payback time.
