Idiocracy (2006) - New DVD Movie Reviews

By The Vocabulariast • January 2, 2009

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Idiocracy is the latest film from the mind of Mike Judge, you know, the guy that brought us a little movie called Office Space. Idiocracy had a limited release in theaters last year sometime (not that anyone would have noticed) and has since found its way onto DVD where it has toiled in relative anonymity.

Have you ever walked around town and wondered if society was actually getting dumber by the day? Have you ever turned on the TV and wondered what the hell is wrong with the world when millions of people tune in to watch a guy pick a suitcase or vote on which terrible singer they want to eliminate? Well Idiocracy is what happens when you take all of the moronic trends of today and blow them up to an almost ridiculous level. At its heart, Idiocracy is a fairly scathing satire of pop culture trends in our world today. The story follows the journey of one average man who is frozen for five hundred years and wakes up to find that he is the smartest man alive.

Luke Wilson plays Joe Bauers, a man who only remarkable trait is that he is average in every way, shape, and form. Wilson doesn’t carry the movie so much as he is carried along by it. The actors that really bring the movie to life are all the moronic characters of the future. Dax Shepard is surprisingly likable as Frito a lawyer that gets Wilson’s character thrown into jail despite the fact that he was supposed to defend him. Terry Crews is another standout in the cast as he blows up the screen as President Camacho, an ex-fighter who rides around the streets drinking beer on his red, white and blue motorcycle while giving the American public the finger.

What sets this movie apart from most comedies is the ability with which it pokes fun at what is probably its target audience. Imagine a world where monster trucks are the accepted form of capital punishment. Imagine a world where even a regular old t-shirt has so many sponsors on it that you can’t even read them all. Imagine a world where even the leaders of the country walk around with medallions around their necks, firing off guns into the air. Despite all of these obvious jabs at contemporary culture, the film is actually quite intelligent and many of its jokes may go unnoticed… hell, I bet half the people that watch this movie and see the spoof show “Ow, My Balls” would probably sit on the couch and watch it without thinking twice if it was real.

The look of this movie is amazing. Every inch of scenery is taken up with so much clutter that it is hard to see what is going on all the time. The only drawback of this is that much of the movie has CGI backgrounds and other elements. They are not bad, but they do distract from the flow of the film every now and then.

This movie is hilarious and I was laughing my ass of as I watched it. I can only wonder why this movie wasn’t more successful… my only answer? Society is getting stupider… they want more rap stars and wrestlers in their movies. Oh well, intelligent people can still get a kick out of this. Hillbilly wrestling lovers might just be offended.

Final Synopsis: If you love satire and comedy that makes you think, this movie is for you. If you ever feel a sense of dread about our bleak dumb future, this is worth a watch. If you like monster trucks and Carl’s Jr., you may want to stay away.

Points Lost: -1 distracting CGI, -1 for a lame ending

Burning Question: Do you think the world is getting stupider… and why?

Idiocracy
8/10