I've seen this, and I'm baffled that it could be whiffed on by critics AND its studio. Idiocracy is hilarious, and a natural progression from Office Space in many ways. Office Space poked and prodded the stupidity in modern business, while Idiocracy wallows in a future where that stupidity has spread and grown to the point where it threatens mankind's very survival.
Quote:
| according to the Village Voice, Mike Judge makes the slide into mediocrity and stupidity as an "inexorable" rule of life. In other words, satire with an exit plan. |
It's presented in part as the inevitable result of natural selection being subverted - dumb people make more babies than smart people. This sequence is great, as we see a quick view of the lives of a trailer-trash fella whose family tree explodes, while a WASP-y couple debates having their first child their entire lives.
But I guess the reviewer missed the major theme that people's devaluing of intelligence and revelling in stupidity was at least as big a factor in their downfall. I can see how they could miss that - it's only mentioned a hundred or so times in the story and related jokes. A major example would be how everyone in the future hears Luke Wilson speak (in his normal voice) and think he sounds "faggy and high-falootin". Subtle humor like that can easily go over the head of the modern reviewer.
Quote:
| Some of the things that develop in the stupid future are funny, but overall a lot of it is somewhat depressing 'cause it's not far off from the kind of shit we have now. |
That's the point of the movie. If you couldn't connect the 'idiot-future' to our 'dumb-dumb-present', the movie would be a complete failure. Those connections are where the best jokes (and points) are made.
Anyway, I guess should just revel in the irony that the movie about rising stupidity in our world has been dumped on by critics and dumped by its studio, because they didn't "get it".
Idiocracy isn't perfect, but it's easily the 2nd-funniest movie of the year to me (ahead of Talladega Nights' similar examination of borderline retardation, and just behind Borat). I suspect Idiocracy will hold up much better than Borat to repeat viewings. At the very least it deserved a theatrical release over the cancer-inducing "Date Movie" or "You Me & Dipshit".
Personally, I'll be buying the DVD and showing it to everyone I know. Enjoy this movie, or GO FUCK YOURSELF!
(that's a reference - hopefully more people will get it in a week or so)...