Atonement (2008)

Yes Day starts off sort of charming, with Jennifer Garner as Allison Torres. Allison is stuck in a rut of sorts--she was once a fun, adventurous person before she had three children, and now her life seems to revolve around telling them no. Allison and her husband Carlos (Edgar Ramirez) decide to try something different for a change--saying yes to their kids' wishes no matter the request for one day.

As a whole, this family night film is best watched by the younger audience. Some of the plot was watered down and somewhat irritating, mixed with a little bit of dry humor. It wasn't funny, but it was funny. This movie addresses a lot of things that are happening today in society. For example, the fact that Katie Torres (Jenna Ortega) kept insisting that she was a child at 12, but now she's grown at age 14, shows how there aren't really preteen age ranges anymore. The younger generations seem to be skipping it all together. You're a child at one age and then and adult at another.

Another example is when Allison goes looking for a job, and her boss tells her, "I'm looking for some entitled millennial, who I wouldn't mind keeping until 10 every night. Who I could watch cry, while she eats her gluten-free burrito and hashtags, 'hurt feelings, this job is so unfair.' I wouldn't want to do that to you. I like you too much." Of course, by this he means "I want a child I can push around to do things that I don't want to do, and things that I should be paying them for, but won't. I can't do that to you because you're an adult and you would say something back to me. I don't want the headache." Teen workers get mistreated on a daily basis at work by managers, and when they become a problem by speaking up for themselves, the corporation will fire and replace them with ease.

Allison went against her natural instinct and finally said yes, and everyone was surprised--including herself. Then she surprised the audience again when she enforced certain conditions and situations in order to achieve Yes Day. The rules that needed to be met were inadvertently good for the children, as well as herself. Things got done around the house, and the kids' grades went up. The more anticipation for Yes Day to arrive, the better behaved the children got. They worked together, and formulated a solid plan.

While Jennifer Garner's role did not disappoint, Edgar Ramirez's role did. One second he is likable, while the next second the audience is wondering why he is there. From the beginning he was already coming out of the gate wrong. He had plenty of time to prepare and get all his business handled before Yes Day came around, yet when the children woke them up, demanding both parent's cell phones, he looked confused and unorganized. Even Allison had to tell him, "You knew to be prepared." He was involved, but only halfway. Carlos took Allison for granted. She was the stay at home enforcer mom, so he didn't really have to deal with the kids all day. He got to come home and say yes to everything, making him appear like the hero. When the time came to live up to his name, he failed on multiple occasions. Not only could he not even follow the no cell phone rule, he went out of his way to make up an excuse about how to get out of the rest of the day.