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Chad
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Posted: January 22, 2007 at 12:00am
There are some movies which are so poignant, so relevant, and so goddamned frightening that you just can't help but fall in love with them. No, I'm not talking about the latest documentary from Al Gore, nor am I talking about a documentary at all; I'm referring to Idiocracy, the latest film from the man who brought us Beavis & Butthead, King of the Hill, and of course, Office Space.
We begin by taking a look at two couples and hearing their opinions on both having and raising children. The first couple, a well-groomed, highly educated pair with good jobs and bright futures decide that it's probably best if they wait until they're financially secure and settled down before having a child while the second couple is your typical trailer park trash that pops out kids as fast as they can due to a lack of common sense. As the years pass by, the movie explains, the world pretty much follows the examples set forth by these two couples, and thanks to the over-breeding of the idiots, the human race has "evolved" into knuckle-dragging morons by the year 2500.
Joe Bauers (Luke Wilson) and Rita (Maya Rudolph) are an unlikely couple who find themselves living in this world thanks to a top-secret military program which hopes to perfect human hibernation for use during war. The plan is for these test subjects to "hibernate" for a solid year so that the officials can see how their bodies handle it, but when the commanding officers are arrested on unrelated charges, these human guinea pigs are forgotten about. Now, Joe finds himself in a world where programming like "Ow! My Balls!" are the highest-rated shows on television and pro-wrestlers run the country. Needless to say, he's also the smartest man on the planet, and the idiots turn to him to help solve some of the world's problems.
Mike Judge certainly has a way with taking the mundane aspects of everyday life and turning them into some of the funniest movies to land on store shelves. Take Office Space, for example - this was a movie in which the characters are office workers, and... well, that's about it. However, it turned out to be one of the funniest movies I have ever seen, and as of this writing, it's ranked #10 on the "Highest Rated Movies" list of this very site. In his newest release, he sticks to the same style of storytelling that he has become known for, only replacing office drones with idiots to set the films apart. It works out wonderfully if you've enjoyed his previous work (and honestly, who doesn't?), but it's certainly not the film that will change your mind about him otherwise.
The cast is excellent, with leading man Luke Wilson coming off as the perfect Joe Average while Maya Rudolph is great in her role as the "painter." I also highly enjoyed the character that Dax Shepard played, that being a dim-witted lawyer assigned to represent Joe when he was arrested for "robbing" a hospital in one of the opening scenes of the film. The man is great and almost lovable here, and he had the bumbling idiot role down to a science with his way of talking and his body language.
My only real complaint was that it seemed like the movie was too short. It's a feature-length film, mind you, but it's so good that once you hit the credits, you're left wanting another hour or two of adventure from the characters in this not-too-distant future. Very few movies can achieve that goal while still telling a full story with proper character development and closure, but this one did it. The end result is a highly recommended film, and one that is also one of the funniest movies I've seen in months. 9/10.
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Tristan
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Posted: January 23, 2007 at 8:30am
Another movie I might not have known about if it weren't for good ol' MvMMDI. Can't thank you enough, this was a great one.
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bluemeanie
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Posted: January 23, 2007 at 4:41pm
The studio dumped this film out with zero publicity and zero exposure, much like they did "Office Space". Evidently, they have zero faith in Mike Judge, though his films continue to amass huge cult followings and always seem to be brilliantly crafted satires. "Idiocracy" is no exception -- it's the brightest and most relevant comedy of the year and I hate that it was given nothing close to what it deserved. Hopefully, it will have a healthy shelf life and catch on much like "Office Space" did. Shame on the studio, and congrats to Mike Judge on another classic. 9/10.
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Edd
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Posted: January 29, 2007 at 3:56am
I feel like the odd man out, but I never connected with this movie. Seemed like a lack of motivation for the actors did it in for me.
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Kai
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Posted: February 3, 2007 at 5:56pm
When I read the synopsis of this movie, I was stunned. It was a brilliant idea, the downgrade of society based upon the rapid reproduction of those with little intelligence or morals. The people who feed themselves with slapstick comedy and violence becoming the ruling class is a funny outlook on the future. But the movie itself focused on the extreme retardation of society, not the growing ignorance of it. Planes are being flown, electronics are being created, and television stations still were online.. Yet any showing of intelligence from someone was considered "Fag Talk." Every facet of social degradation was emphasized to the point of redundancy. It is hard for me to give a bad review to this movie because I like where the directer was leading us, but the road he took was ill conceived. By the time the movie was half way over I was sick of the constant onslaught on my senses. The good news is the ending is just as bad as the rest, so this movie can be cut down considerably by just turning it off.
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doney
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Posted: May 13, 2008 at 11:58pm
saw this recently, loved it. 9/10
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Lucid Dreams
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Posted: November 22, 2010 at 3:38am
Sometimes I hate Luke Wilson, but then he surprises me with movies like this. 8/10
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