Idiocracy

Rating R Formats DVD Genre comedy Starring Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, Kevin McAfee, Ryan Melton Directed by Mike Judge Publisher 20th Century Fox External Links Official 20th Century Fox Website

Let's face it. The sophistication and aptitude of our society has taken a major downfall over the past few years. There was once a time where corporate sponsorship didn't overtake everything, nobody was ridiculed for being smart and comedy was not limited to just toilet humor. We live in a world where style replaces substance, moronic reality TV shows like "Jackass" and "Survivor" are watched by millions, celebrity gossips gets higher priority over news stories that are actually important and teenagers would rather update their Ipods rather than study for SATS. Yep, we are entering an era of intellectual and social regression and Mike Judge's Idiocracy serves as a not-too-exaggerated prophecy piece of what may be to come.

The film begins with a little segment displaying that while educated and successful members of the middle and upper-class are holding off on families and children in order to focus more on their careers, all of the poor, incompetent and uncivilized white trash of the western world are popping out kids as if the fate of the world depended on it. We are then brought to our central character, Pvt. Joe Bowers (Luke Wilson), an average American who makes his living by overseeing a military library. Joe's boring life gets a dash of excitement as he is chosen to take part in a military experiment where he is placed in a body capsule and kept in hibernation for a year. Unfortunately, the program loses funding, the head of the project is arrested and the project headquarters is torn down. The only problem is they forgot all about Joe. Thus, one year becomes five hundred years as Joe finds himself in a dumbed-down society where a Gatorade-like beverage has completely replaced water, the President of the United States is a professional wrestler and the #1 rated show on TV is "Ow! My Balls!" But Joe isn't alone there was another subject in the case, a prostitute named Rita (Maya Rudolph). Together, Joe and Rita, along with their dumbass defense attorney Frito (Dax Sheppard) do what they must to return to their original time...to return to normalcy.

Mike Judge's previous film, the cult classic Office Space, had a sarcastic overtone that spoke volumes to those who know what its like to work in an office environment. While Office Space was a smart comedy, Idiocracy is a smart comedy and a stupid toilet comedy rolled into one! Upon initial viewing, one may find this to be a cliched piece that is suited more towards the teenager demography. However, if you look closer, you will find Idiocracy to be a sly and brutal social commentary on our ever so slipping society. Most of the humor usually deals with flatulence, sex, excrement and urine. However, the inner context of this humor gives everything a double meaning. It can serve as a screwball comedy for the lower minded audience or a clever piece that shows us what kind of a world we may be heading to. I'm sure those kiddies are looking forward to Ass.

Oh, and don't look for any sort of classic comedic performances that would make VH1's list of uhm..classic..comedic..performances. If you read my review for My Super Ex-Girlfriend, you'll know that I'm not the biggest Luke Wilson fan. Maya Rudolph doesn't do any favors for me either and Dax Sheppard ... *shudders*. Anyhow, despite the lack of funny with these three, the film still manages to pull out a good string of laughs with its numerous references to pop culture and society in general.

The extras are enough to keep those of a short attention span occupied. Five deleted scenes. Yes, that is it. No Mike Judge commentary. No "Making of" segment, not even an episode of "Ow! My Balls!" or a trailer for Ass. I mean, c'mon! Ass will be the #1 movie in America 500 years from now plus it will be up for 15 Academy Awards!! The least they could've done was given us a sampling of what is bound to be a cinematic tour de force!

Hey! I like Mike Judge. I loved Office Space. And I think Idiocracy is a brilliant and unique concept for a comedy. However, you have to look behind the shroud of potty humor and current comedy cliches to appreciate the uniqueness. On the other hand, the film may serve for a totally different purpose. Like it or not, stupid white trash is taking over. Idiocracy just may be the warning and wake-up call that we will need in order to prevent such a catastrophe.