Alice Oscura, Featured Writer
Plot: Allison (Jennifer Garner) and Carlos (Édgar Ramírez) are tired of saying “no” to their three kids. They decide to treat their kids to “Yes Day” where the parents cannot say “no” for 24 hours (within reason of course) and the kids make the rules. The film is based on a popular children’s book of the same name written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal.
Review: Would you rather have ice-cream for breakfast, go through a car wash with all of your windows down, or go out in public dressed in silly costumes decked out in glitter? If you happen to be a huge follower or fan of family-oriented YouTube channels, you would be awfully familiar with the popular “Parents Say Yes to Everything for 24 hours” trend. I’ve seen many channels attempt this with some particularly hilarious results, and it often ends up with the parents ultimately regretting the last 24 hours of their lives.
Yes Day is a bright, funny, fantastic escape for both parents and children. The family is entirely relatable and adorable from beginning to end. The story itself has got a lot of heart because it touches on the subject of a teenager who cannot wait to grow up and get away from the nest, while on the flip side you have a parent who cannot come to terms with the fact that her “baby” is clearly not a baby anymore. Allison (Jennifer Garner) clearly struggles with this when dealing with her teenaged daughter Katie (Jenna Ortega).
The ever-charming Garner (13 Going on 30, Juno) steals the spotlight as a frazzled mother who was once fun-loving and spontaneous in her youth but in becoming a mother of three transformed into, well, a parent who has to say “no” all the time to her crazy kids. On a side note, there is a behind the scenes video clip of Garner showing how absolutely terrified she was while on a roller coaster ride with Jenna Ortega. She actually breaks character and called Jenna by her real name.
Handsome Venezuelan actor Édgar Ramírez (Zero Dark Thirty, The Bourne Ultimatum) has excellent onscreen chemistry with Garner, and it was extremely amusing and refreshing to see him take on a more comedic role. He is absolutely adorable as Carlos Torres, and when he is given a moment to shine in a scene by golly he takes that and runs with it!
The entire atmosphere of the film is bright, magical, and cheery. It also comes along at the perfect time when both parents and children need to escape from the current global situation. Yes Day shows us that a film can be cute and entertaining while still packing in time to learn about important life lessons. So, make sure and grab the kids for barrel of laughs family-style with Yes Day.
Alice’s Score: 7.5 out of 10
So what’s your go-to family comedy? For my review of Disney’s The One and Only Ivan you can click here. Or for Senior Writer Sommer’s review of The Croods: New Age you can click here.
Dark Alice has an old soul and a curious mind. I believe that anyone can be a hero and that the good guys should always win! I dislike cruelty to animals and think that they have far superior qualities to humans. My motto is there is no future without the past. I also have a weird penchant for Paranormal TV shows even though the slightest sound makes me jump. I enjoy writing reviews and throwing in fun facts to pique the readers’ curiosity. My ultimate goal in life would be to become a published writer one day. You can find me as Dark Alice Reviews on Facebook where you’ll get my reviews hot off the press. You can also find me on Instagram as alice_oscura and my Twitter handle is @lise_veliz2. For my extended bio you can click here.