A few years ago, a pair of socially-minded pranksters made a movie about their exploits which targeted the World Trade Organization by posing as representatives from the WTO at a number of conferences. This combination of protest and punking seemed a winning combination and even though people walked away from these encounters with egg on their face, all’s well that means well I suppose. Well, the Yes Men are back, although I supposed they never really left. Their primary focus this time is Dow Chemicals, although they have time to squeeze in shots at the US government and real estate developers as well as other corporate giants, but it’s all in good fun. Or is it?

The Yes Men, AKA: Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno, set themselves the goal of saving the world with this new effort, which begins with a public shaming of Dow Chemicals. Now what did Dow ever do to the Dynamic Duo? Well, nothing directly. A few years ago, Dow became the proud owner of the Union Carbide chemical plant in Bhopal, India. This is the same plant where in 1984, 42 tonnes of toxic methyl isocyanate was accidentally released immediately killing 3,000 and killing another 15,000 from the long term affects of gas exposure. In the 25 years since, neither Union Carbide nor Dow have taken responsibility for the accident scene or taken any initiative in the clean-up of the still toxic area.

So if Dow wasn’t going to take responsibility themselves, then the Yes Men were going to do it for them with a fake website called “DowEthics.com” and an interview with a leading Dow official on the BBC. Bichlbaum as Dow rep Jude Finisterra, promises to make full restitution to the people of Bhopal and accepts full responsibility for 25 years of neglect for the area on behalf of the company. In short order, the story becomes one of the biggest international headlines in that news cycle, and it isn’t until hours later when a statement from the real Dow Chemicals exposes the hoax.

To the progressively-minded audience member, to whom this movie is aimed at, The Yes Men’s pranking of 300 million BBC viewers is crescendo of subversive activism. Hilarious for not just the way these guys execute their schemes but also in how the news media buys straight-faced their tall tales, The Yes Men satisfy by doing what anyone fuming about inaction on a given issue have wanted to do. But to the media with their pants caught down around their ankles, the bad guys were the Yes Men, who for a brief period conned the people of Bhopal into thinking that they were getting help. Where the media stood on anger towards the guys who haven’t even so much as factiously promised help in the last quarter-century is never discussed.

Most of the comedy in The Yes Men comes not from the boys’ sometimes elaborate goofs, but rather in how the Powers That Be and the media react to them. Whether it’s sincere seriousness or manufactured anger, the reactions seem to be missing the point at every turn. In fact, one reporter tears into Bichlbaum and Bonanno when they’re posing as Housing and Urban Development spokesmen announcing public housing funds in New Orleans like they lead the country into a war on false pretences. They may not Fix the World in the end, but the Yes Men definitely shake up their small part of it. Their dedication rubs off on you the viewer, even if it’s simply an admiration for their brazenness and secret wish that you can be that bold.