Eight years ago Mike Judge, the creator of Beavis and Butt-Head, put out a little film called Office Space. It’s a classic cult movie and one of only two movies I always have on my iPod for immediate viewing. While it isn’t perfect, and the plot kind of falls down at the end, it has enough funny moments to constitute repeat viewings, for sure.
Last year, then, Judge came out with another film, Idiocracy. Unlike his prior film this one got no promotion. Fox famously buried it, released it in as few theaters as possible, and then put it out on DVD in short order to ensure it would tank all around.
The basic plot synopsis: a man and woman are frozen in a cryogenic experiment for a year. Of course Something Goes Wrong and they’re frozen for 500 years. They find that, in the future, everyone in America (“Americuhhh”) is incredibly stupid – to the point that crops are dying and no one knows why. After all, they’re giving the crops Brawndo – ie, Gatorade – since “it’s got what plants crave!” It’s up to Joe Bauers, now the smartest man on earth, to fix it all.
I haven’t seen the film yet – and want to – but thanks to YouTube I’ve seen numerous clips of the film. Is it possible to pick a favorite? Not really but you might as well start here.
Overall, it sounds like the film had higher hopes and ambitions, but got edited way down and became the mess it is today. The fact that it still has some funny moments is impressive. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to watch “Ow, My Balls.”
Posted in Television, Movies, and Music
Merle March 24, 2007, 3:37 pm
Sounds like a familiar setup — much like Pohl’s “The Marching Morons” (which is a fun, short read).
Adam March 24, 2007, 10:26 pm
Loved, LOVED, the premise. However, it doesn’t live up to the potential and is no where near as funny as Office Space. Definitely worth watching, though. The beginning is hilarious and depressing at the same time because of how dead-on it is. They show the smart people choosing to wait for children and then only have one or two (if any), while the stupid people are having kid after kid after kid – most of which are unwanted, none of which are able to really be supported.
Paul June 28, 2008, 3:52 pm
It took over a year but I finally saw this film.
The good news? Yeah, the idea is still fantastic and the clips that used to be on YouTube point out a lot of the hilarious moments. But the execution is just middling. It’s too long at times, and the ending isn’t satisfying.
There’s also one big flaw here: if people are all so so stupid, then how do companies exist? How does currency still work? I guess it could be written off as someone in the past inventing this long-lasting idiot-proof stuff but, that’s really not satisfying either.
I give it 3 stars, mostly because the funny moments are still quite funny, but don’t expect Office Space again.