BY CHRISTOPHER STAMM
GUEST movie REVIEWER
Yes Day (Now streaming on Netflix)
The concept is simple: For 24 hours, everything a child asks to do is answered with a “Yes.” (With some prior agreed upon ground rules, of course.) That, in a nutshell, is the premise of the Jennifer Garner led Netflix original movie, Yes Day.
Allison (Jennifer Garner) and Carlos (Edgar Ramirez) find themselves constantly saying no to their kids and co-workers respectively. But the couple used to say yes to all sorts of fun things – before they had kids. Now, Carlos is the bad guy at work, and inevitably Allison ends up being the bad guy at home. The constant negativity is weighing down on her. Her three kids, Katie (Jenna Ortega), Nando (Julian Lerner), and Ellie (Everly Carganilla), are adorable, but constantly test her patience when questioning her rules.
The tension in this wholesome scenario comes from Allison and Katie’s evolving relationship. Katie wants to do things on her own. But Allison is concerned that Katie isn’t quite prepared for the real world.
While Garner did seem to be giving it her best in the movie, the scripted tasks didn’t ask that much of her. Ultimately, Yes Day doesn’t commit to either being a full-out family fun movie or a family drama.
Rated 2 out of 5 stars, because it just really never committed to what kind of movie it wanted to be. But, to be clear, I am not the target audience for this kind of film, and I found it hard to relate to the characters as I do not have children, Parents may find it very relatable.