Mike Judge’s new film “Idiocracy” wasn’t pre-screened for critics. In fact, it was only released at a few theaters in only eight cities in the country. Atlanta was a lucky recipient of the film, but there have been no ads for the film on local television and only tiny print ads in major metropolitan newspapers. It would appear that 20th Century Fox doesn’t have a lot of confidence in the film and is looking to meet contractual obligations before shipping it straight to DVD. That is a shame, because “Idiocracy” is a fairly sharp satire with a lot of good laughs.

The film’s major premise focuses on the perception (it could be fact) that people of higher intelligence are having fewer children, while people of lower intelligence are having more. This leads to a severe dumbing down of the population within 500 years and Joe, played amiably (is there any other way he plays a role) by Luke Wilson, is there to see it when an Army cryogenics project backfires and he is asleep for 500 years instead of one. Joe isn’t alone in the future. He is joined by Rita, a working girl who was the only female that the Army scientists could get who didn’t have people who would ask questions if things went wrong.

Yes, Joe and Rita have seen the future and the future is dumb. Really, really dumb. People haven’t figured out how to deal with trash, so they just keep piling it on top of other piles, causing trash avalanches. The number one drink is a Gatorade-like beverage called Brawno and the people think it’s so good and good for them that they should water the crops with it, causing all the crops to die and a dust bowl to form. The president is a former pro wrestler who fires guns in the House of Representin’ and justice is meted out in monster truck arenas where the guilty party is given a compact car or a bunny outfit to compete with.

Joe just wants to go home and Frito, his incredibly stupid attorney, tells him of a time machine somewhere near the Costco that is 1,000 miles long and wide and houses a university, subways and gigantic containers of everything. His plans for escape are halted though when people find out he is the smartest man alive. They believe he can solve all of their problems and if he can’t, he’ll either go to jail or be killed.

Judge has always been funny when pointing fingers or reflecting society. While many saw the base humor in “Beavis and Butthead” and left it alone, they truly missed what was below the surface, which was the fact that Beavis and Butthead were already in every school and suburb in every town in America, long before the show ever came along. His feature film “Office Space” examined the needless and often mindless bureaucracy in both the corporate and the corporate fast food world. It too wasn’t given much of a chance by the studio and yet it found a huge following and has become a cult classic. I hope that “Idiocracy” finds that type of love eventually as well. It deserves it. There were big belly laughs throughout and it also made you think a little bit about the way things are going in general. The production quality was high for the most part but low in places it needed to be. Wilson gave a solid performance, Maya Rudolph, who I am typically not a big fan of, was wonderful as Rita and performances from Dax Shepard as Frito and Terry Crews as the President, were top notch as well.

20th Century Fox may argue that a movie pointing out how stupid people are isn’t marketable, but I say they just aren’t marketing it correctly. We will always laugh at people who are fat and dumb and don’t even realize it. I mean, “The Simpsons” has been on for 18 seasons and Homer, the fattest, dumbest and most oblivious, is the main reason why. I wish that the movie studio would release the first five minutes of the film on-line (hello, You Tube) because then people would see just how funny “Idiocracy” is and give it a chance.

It’s not a perfect film, but so few are. “Idiocracy” deserves a fighting chance though and if it is still around this weekend, please go see it.

***1/2

login to post comments