Yes Day Parent Guide

Carlos and Allison Torres (Edgar Ramirez and Jennifer Garner) used to be fun. They went skydiving, stayed up late, and lived life to the fullest. Now hard work and parenting have sapped some of their energy, and it seems like all they say is “no”. Then Mr. Deacon (Nat Faxon), the eccentric guidance counselor at their kids’ school, introduces them to the concept of a “Yes Day”, a day where, within some rules, the parents have to assent to anything the kids request. Although concerned, Carlos and Allison have had enough of being boring and agree to the plan… but whether or not they’ll survive what their kids have planned is another matter.

Let’s start with the content. As you might expect, this is a very kid-friendly film, with no serious profanity, drugs, or sexual content. The only thing that stands out is the over-the-top comedic violence, which hits the usual areas: man falling out of tree, man attacked by birds, a fistfight at an amusement park over a stuffed gorilla…ok, maybe that last one isn’t so typical. But for the most part, this is your bog-standard, over-sugared kids’ movie. At least, it looks that way on the surface.

The premise of this movie is both absurd and impractical. For the Torres family, this kind of irresponsible behavior is made possible by Carlos’ cushy job as in-house legal counsel. In the case of families even marginally less affluent, a “Yes Day” like this would be prohibitively expensive and potentially catastrophic. Off the top of my head, the combined cost of the activities (not to mention the damages) would run to few thousand dollars. There are cheaper ways to be an irresponsible parent, and I honestly think the movie would have been much more interesting if the characters had to balance their desire to be have fun with real-world financial constraints.

Your average nine-year-old will probably enjoy this power-transfer fantasy, but anyone even slightly older will recognize both the execrable writing and fundamental absurdity of the plot. While I’m not saying parents shouldn’t try to have fun with their kids, Yes Day is just 90 minutes of bad judgement and irresponsible parenting. Not that this movie is necessarily endorsing any real life “Yes Days”, but frankly, even a fictional one is more irritation than I think you need. Isn’t covid quarantine bad enough already without having your kids badger you to fill the toilet with vinegar and baking soda or drive through the car wash with the windows down?