Idiocracy

Mike Judge's long-awaited follow-up to Office Space was a bit of a disappointment, yet didn't deserve the poor treatment it got from the studio. With next to no marketing, no website, and a very limited release, it is as if 20th Century Fox executives got their panties in a bunch due to the film's no-so-subtle slams to the Fox "News" Network and wanted to bury the film as quickly as possible.

I found the film slightly amusing but mostly idiotic, which I guess is apropo and consistant with the title. Though there are several laugh-out-loud moments in it, it is mostly just a low-budget and poorly executed comedy with mediocre acting and a predictable storyline.

I did find the ideas behind Idiocracy to be very intelligent and insightful, however, which is why I'm giving it 3 skinks instead of 2. The premise that America is slowly being dumbed down due to the seemingly ever-increasing inbalance between the reproductive outputs of intelligent vs. not-so-intelligent citizens is a compelling case. I loved the family tree stories at the beginning of the movie that illustrated this point.

For further proof, one must look no further than the last two presidential elections. A reason many people gave for voting our illustrious Gee-Dub into office was that he seemed like a regular guy that you could have a beer with. Now while it might be true that it would be much more fun to have a beer-can-on-the-head smashing Bluto at my frat party rather than the nerdy geek talking economics, I really don't want the man running my country to be in that position primarily on his ability to guzzle beer bongs.

There is some very intelligent humor in the ideas presented in Idiocracy, but the execution is for the most part sophmoric and banal. The movie does have a little heart that is worthy of some merit, but most of the jokes made me slightly chuckle at best. Some people really love this movie and more power to them. I, for one, want a little more meat and polish on my satire and movie fare.


Idiocracy (2006)
Starring: Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph
Directed by: Mike Judge

(3 out of 7 skinks)