A somewhat loose Netflix film adaptation of the 2009 picture book Yes Day!, starring Golden Globe winner Jennifer Garner and César Award winner Édgar Ramírez, will premiere on Netflix on March 12. A new trailer was released yesterday.
Kirkus called the original kids’ book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrator Tom Lichtenheld “funny and on-target.” It tells a relatively simple story of a nameless young boy who discusses his “favorite day of the year,” in which his caregivers (also nameless) say yes to everything he asks. Most of his requests are fairly low-key, such as “Can I have pizza for breakfast?” or “Can I clean my room tomorrow?,” although he does ask, at one point, if the family can have a good-natured food fight.
The comedy film, written by Father Figures’ Justin Malen and directed by Like a Boss’ Miguel Arteta, takes the general premise and greatly expands on it. (It also removes the exclamation mark from the title for some reason.) It focuses more on parents Allison and Carlos Torres, who agree to say yes to any suggestions that their three children make for a single day. The kids’ requests, such going through a car wash with the windows down, are rather more dramatic than the book’s; judging from the trailer, skydiving, a house full of soap suds, and even an arrest ensue.
Garner provided her voice talents to the 2018-2019 Netflix animated show Llama Llama, which also has picture-book origins; it’s based on a series by Anna Dewdney and illustrator JT Morrow. Ramírez most recently appeared in a very different kind of book adaptation: Last year’s HBO miniseries The Undoing, based on Jean Hanff Korelitz’s 2014 novel, You Should Have Known.
David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.
