YES DAY | FILM REVIEW
Dir: Miguel Arteta (PG, 90 mins)
An amiable family comedy that mostly stays away from being too annoying and twee, thanks to Jennifer Garner’s central performance, but finally succumbs to schmaltz. The paper-thin plot has stressed parents Garner and Edgar Ramirez realizing they’ve lost touch with their children: dad Ramirez is on his phone all the time, a slave to work; mum Garner is always the bad guy, saying no to every demand from her kids. Jenna Ortega’s teen daughter wants to be allowed to grow up and go to concerts on her own; son Julian Lerner is a mischievous geek who wants a foam party; and baby of the family Ellie just wants to have fun.
So that’s what they try and do. Based on a parenting manual written by Amy Krause Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenfeld, they have a day where the kids are in charge and the parents have to say yes to everything that they demand. It’s a reward for good behaviour and a way for the parents to reconnect with their positive younger selves. So follows a deluge of kid-friendly adult shaming, ice cream-eating competitions, an epic waterbomb fight, rollercoasters and arguments. The kids realise that maybe saying yes to everything isn’t the best way to live your life and that responsibility for others means you do have to be the bad guy.
Ramirez looks a bit bewildered to be in the film, whilst Garner marshals with authority, despite a few unintentionally cringe-inducing moments. The kids are anodyne and Disneyesque, with a few extra laughs drummed up by Nat Faxton’s teacher and Arturo Castro’s positive police officer. It’s positive, middle-of-the-road family fare, a bit saccharine but not offensive. Perhaps worth saying yes to if you are homeschooled out and don’t mind potential consequences with your spawn – otherwise, it’s a maybe not.
Out now via Netflix
words KEIRON SELF