From the far reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy, It's Retro Nerd Girl with a film review for you.
Today I'll be reviewing the movie Idiocracy released in 2006.
Starring:
Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard
Directed by:
Mike Judge
Genre:
Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) Rating:
R
Budget:
4 million USD
Current IMDb Rating When Reviewed:
6.6
The Synopsis is:
Average Joe, aka, Private Joe Bauers, is selected by the Pentagon to participate in a top-secret hibernation program for one year. However, the program is forgotten for 500 years and he awakes only to discover that he is the most intelligent person alive.
Story:
This very same premise was also explored in the short story "The Marching Morons" in 1951 by Cyril M. Kornbluth.
Idiocracy is the creation of American animator, actor, filmmaker and musician, Mike Judge, famous for his animated television series Beavis and Butt-Head (1993–1997, 2011), and was the co-creator of the television series King of the Hill (1997–2010).
He directed the films Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996) and he had two more pictures to write for Twentieth Century Fox when he came up with the idea for Idiocracy as an exploration into the evolution of man.
He went on to first write and direct Office Space (1999). While on vacation visiting Disneyland with his family waiting for the tea cup ride in 2001 the idea for Idiocracy was finally realized. He saw two women making a huge scene, fighting and cursing at each other, each with a toddler in a stroller to witness the madness.
He said that he wondered how horrible it would be if humanity lost common sense in the future? To which many pessimists today would say, too late. It’s already happening. But to be honest, in 2001 this kind of behavior was still shocking. Sadly it’s more commonplace today.
He imagined how it would happen and said it was fun to write, even though it was clearly not the kind of film he thought the studio would greenlight. The script title was originally "The United States of Uhh-merica", which I thought was super cute and cheesy. That title just makes you laugh and you get the joke immediately. Later, the working title was "3001" as an ode to 2001 A Space Odyssey, which was a film that also talked about the evolution of man. I am not sure why the name changed but Idiocracy was a play on the words “idiot” and “democracy” or at least “ocracy”, meaning government, so this is a world run by idiots or idiot ideologies.
Mike Judge got Etan Cohen to help write the first draft and then thought that would be it. However, it got the green light when Luke Wilson got his hands on the script and showed genuine interest in the project.
The story is very bold from the onset, full of over the top offensive humor that parody reality, which immediately lets you know that this is a pure fantasy, “what if” scenario.
I think by going this route, the whole argument for trying to see a scientific, logical or realistic explanation for anything that happens in the film gets thrown out the window.
Accepting that this is an exaggeration of what could happen and at its core a social commentary, makes this the most enjoyable. It’s only a window into one of the deepest darkest pessimistic fears about the future.
I thought it was a brilliantly thought out idea full of funny surprises in this parody world. As a warning, there are a few jokes that are quite dated for 2001 and again, ridiculously offensive. Why would anyone like something like this? I think the film is meant to show us an offensive society that has lost its way. It’s a warning of what we could become, disguised as a comedy.
Pacing:
At 1h 24min I really enjoyed the pacing. It was short and sweet.
Challenge:
The challenge in the film was the wacky world of the future. Much like movies like Zardoz, Demolition Man and Logan’s Run, these ridiculous societies are the nightmares of what our world might or could split off into.
The narrator frames the story that in the 21st century evolution began to reward those who reproduced the most. The film sets up the legacy of three people. Two of them are career oriented upper middle class intellectuals, Trevor and Carol. They both have high IQ’s and hold the importance of raising children as a precious job. And when they finally decided to have children it was too late for fertility and they both died without a legacy.
Then there is Clevon with a low IQ and living in a rundown house. I guess we are to assume he’s poor. He has no qualms about having kids by multiple women as they roam wild with little parenting. His children continue in the same fashion leaving him with about 28 offspring initially and then thousands more eventually over centuries.
There is a commentary here about elitism, population and the poor, which sadly favors no one.
500 years later, after building an automated world the population’s IQ lowers. It lowered, because most of the people with high IQ died off, but it also lowered because with everything at their disposal, the society just settled and never pursued any growth generation after generation.
The system provided by the forefathers of this society, is the legacy of consumerism and obedience to follow directions to a fault. It reminds me of Logan’s Run 1978 which I recently reviewed about a society that blindly followed a silly rule to die at the age of thirty to control their population.
The society that may have worked at its peak 200 years prior began to deteriorate and the citizens barely exist as the automation begins to break down and some of the challenges of change are ignored and neglected.
Over the years, the language has changed which is quite normal actually. For instance, William Shakespeare invented over 1700 words to expand the english language about 400 years ago, however his work today is a completely different version of english than what we use. Somehow, in many areas the spelling changed and the meanings have lost their impact or have been altered. I really enjoyed that detail.
I big influence in the society is consumerism through the sex and violence, catering to the adult children of this world. As long as corporations give the citizens exactly what they want directly in it’s crudest form, the more apt they will do as they are told, they won’t try to fix anything. And they don’t.
There is one company that dominates this world, Brawndo, the purveyor of an electrolyte replacement sports drink similar to Gatorade.
Brawndo was once just a common product for one purpose, but in order to sell more Brawndo, over time, the product began to take over anything containing water and then eventually replaced water in most uses except for flushing toilets. They also have the tie in of employing half of the world tying them vitally to the economy. There isn’t anything wrong with this, but it does have it’s consequences when Brawndo is used to water crops. It creates a food shortage and dust storms.
I’m really glad that there was really no definitive evil bad guy in this story, because the challenge is for the protagonist to navigate and figure out his way through this absurd world.
Some people have commented that the people portrayed in the film are offensive for portraying people in such a way as unintelligent. I agree with that to a certain degree. We should not judge the intelligence of another human being by the way they look or even behave. As well, intelligence is not genetic and it has many forms. IQs measure a certain kind of intelligence.
So by that logic, I did not think that the people of the future were unintelligent.
Ultimately, I found the people of the future quite charming and sweet, almost like grownup children. They were fun loving, maybe misguided, but they are just beginning to ask questions about how to solve their problems.
Empathy:
The empathy in this film is pretty solid. Let me give you a rundown of the events to give you an idea of what I am talking about.
Corporal Joe Bauers is a U.S. Army librarian who is considered average in every way and is selected for a top secret suspended animation program that is supposed to be from the year 2005 to 2006. The army had trouble getting a female candidate, so a prostitute by the name of Rita is hired for the program.
While in suspended animation, Officer Collins in charge of the operation is arrested for his entanglements with Rita’s pimp, Upgrayedd. The program was dismantled, with the two subjects forgotten over the years.
After a garbage avalanche in 2505 Joe’s animation pod crashes into the apartment of a future person, Frito who is so mesmerized by his television, he can barely acknowledge anything is happening in his apartment. In fact, it seems as if he would be ok with a stranger in his apartment if he would only be quiet and let him watch his show. It seems so odd of a reaction that is shocking for both Joe and the audience.
Joe's method for handling this new world is to try to explain what happened to him logically hoping that the people will understand. The film even calls him out on his over reliance on trying to talk his way out of things. I think I enjoyed the character when he started to figure out how to deal with the future people.
There are a lot of charming characters in the film such as Rita. She holds her own as she tries to make her way in whichever world she’s in. She is driven by one thing, her fear of her pimp Upgrayedd. It’s pretty sad actually, but played as an ongoing joke throughout the film. She finds love with Joe, but it isn’t sappy or out of place. It works well within the story.
We have Frito, who turns out to be a lawyer so terrible that he actually helps the opposing lawyer win his case. His only concern is to sit in his toilet recliner in front of the TV, sucking on Brawndo and eating butter right out of a tub.
It’s an exaggerated example of what a whole lot of people do after work during the week and on the weekends, right now.
Joe is average in 2005 but becomes the most intelligent man in 2006, giving him an arc embracing his new title.
He gets hired as the Secretary of the Interior by the president, President Camacho and his first task is to get the crops to start growing in a week’s time or else. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Brawndo doesn’t have what plants crave. As an interesting little detail, Joe’s last name, Bauer is the German word for "farmer".
Technical:
The technical aspect of the film is a mixed bag. In one aspect that I love, there are a lot of cool paintings of the broken world of the future, visually telling the story. It’s so complex how a visual image can be full of funny gags and yet reflect the sad neglect of civilization. It reminded me of some of the artwork you’d find in Heavy Metal magazine.
We have that great garbage mound, reminiscent of Wall-E 2008, which is what I call the “Idiocracy” for kids.
At the same time the special effects and visual effects were really basic, even crude at some points. It was done well enough to let you know what was happening, but much of it was not made to look real. I still enjoyed it because it was about showing us the folly of the future which made sense to tell the story.
The practical builds, cars, props and sets were such a treat to watch. I was actually impressed by this. It’s a little interesting how probable this all is as we try to create a world that is easier for people to get the things that they need. We only have to remember how different it was even ten years to twenty ago in terms of technology. You can complete a fully touchless experience while grocery shopping. That's wild.
As well we have a rise in touch screens to make transactions easier.
The aesthetic also reminded me of The Fifth Element, utilizing a similar color palate.
Another film that comes to mind is Terry Gilliam’s Zero Theorem, where everything was gamified and simplified all the while putting an emphasis on hyper commercialism overtaking everyday life and signs for every possible action.
I don’t think that is so much of a joke as much as it is a byproduct of traveling 500 years into the future. If you got someone from even the 1970’s and show them Google’s offices, they’d probably wonder about our intelligence. However, when you think about how a person spends up to 8 hours a day on their job and it makes sense to enjoy your surroundings to kindle creativity, it makes sense to us. Tell a man from 500 years ago that millions of people work from home in their pajamas, they’d think that was outrageous and the people of our time was lazy. So I found this movie to strangely have some interesting valid touchstones about the future and the present.
I enjoyed the fact that the film was able to use the name of real establishments to demonstrate the societal transformation from current day to 2505. There was a question as to whether it was permissible to use the name of actual corporations in the film for a few mature jokes. The legal department okayed it with the stipulation that not just one company would be teased in the film. Mike Judge said that that was the green light to go to town on parodying as many establishments as possible. Even Fox, the company responsible for the film was teased ensuing more hilarity. As surreal as it seems the probability of the news desk becoming more visceral is real, if you take a look at news desks from the 1970’s to the present day. You will notice big changes besides fashions. Surely in 500 years it will be outrageous.
I enjoyed all of the thought and detail that was put into building this future world.
Performances:
Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph were great in this.
Dax Shepard had a strange part to play of someone who had an attention deficit, but with moments of brilliance with a child-like whimsy. He was a standout for me.
Terry Crews stole the film with his portrayal of United States President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho, a charismatic former pro wrestler, reality star, and porn star. His performance brings in a lot of laughs. The character of President Camacho reminds me of the unconventional choice of the President of Earth in The Fifth Element 1997.
Enjoyment:
Idiocracy had a lot of problems with the studio not knowing what to do with the property. It was held for two years as a result of negative test screenings and finally released in 2006 without a trailer and barely any marketing. The movie was also shown in limited theaters and in some places it only played for one week and found under the name, “Unlisted Mike Judge Project”.
Why would Twentieth Century Fox spend 4 million dollars on a Mike Judge film, release it without marketing, and play it at limited theaters? Well, it all sounded so ridiculous that it led to the speculation by news outlets that the corporate critique in the film would cause the studio future backlash. It became “the movie Hollywood doesn’t want you to see.”
Even with the suppression of the film, it still received some positive reviews, decent box-office success, but massive home video profits and a great following over the years.
Following the trend of popularity, 20th Century Fox even licensed the "Brawndo" drink at one time, which was actually for sale.
I honestly don’t feel as if Mike Judge was predicting the future. There is a meme going around today saying that the film is becoming a documentary.
I think that is because he was commenting on the present, putting a magnifying glass on the issues that can impact the future.
- The elite ignoring and scorning their fellow man, (lack of empathy).
- The concentration of consumerism and capitalism without ethics or regard for science.
- A lack of educational equality and opportunity.
- A lack of desire for personal development.
- Irresponsible parenting.
It’s simply a window into an idea that is starting to look real.
It’s pretty deep, but also, not so much. There are tons of things that don’t add up in this world, but it cracks me up just entertaining the logic behind it.
I caught this film for the first time a decade ago and overall I was totally tickled by the premise. Every time I watch it, I seem to discover some new detail that leaves me in chuckles. So you could say that on occasion, when in the mood for a hilariously dismal look at the future, this film is what I crave.
My Rating:
8.8
That sums up my review. I hope you liked it.
This is Retro Nerd Girl signing off!
Take care movie lovers! I'm off to the next review!
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