An average American idiot (Luke Wilson), frozen in a government experiment 500 years ago, wakes up to find that humanity has gotten so stupid, he is now the smartest person on Earth. Everybody watches Ow, My Balls! on the Violence Channel and buys hand jobs at Starbucks. America is run by the House of Representin'; the secretary of state is brought to you by Carl's Jr., AOL Time Warner and Taco Bell.
Idiocracy is Mike Judge's follow-up to Office Space, and the studio hated it. The anti-corporate jokes (including digs at Fox News) must have rubbed the Fox bigwigs the wrong way, since they refused to promote it and are now dumping it on DVD. It's the stuff cult legends are made of, and it would make an even better legend if Idiocracy were a work of dark, mad, eccentric genius. Instead, it's a good dumb comedy, like a lost Pauly Shore movie from between Encino Man and Son in Law. The production values are barely basic-cable quality. Maya Rudolph is wasted as a prostitute, but the movie could have used more of the rapper Scarface as her pimp.
The film's futuristic skits allude to Sleeper and Planet of the Apes, but the best jokes are naming-names anti-capitalist satire, like H&R Block's "Adult" Tax Return ("Home of the Gentleman's Rebate"). Overlong at seventy-five minutes, it could have been a great one-hour Comedy Central special. But like Office Space, Idiocracy will have to find its cult on DVD.
DVD EXTRAS Not much -- there's no commentary from Judge, and you can probably guess why.
Idiocracy is Mike Judge's follow-up to Office Space, and the studio hated it. The anti-corporate jokes (including digs at Fox News) must have rubbed the Fox bigwigs the wrong way, since they refused to promote it and are now dumping it on DVD. It's the stuff cult legends are made of, and it would make an even better legend if Idiocracy were a work of dark, mad, eccentric genius. Instead, it's a good dumb comedy, like a lost Pauly Shore movie from between Encino Man and Son in Law. The production values are barely basic-cable quality. Maya Rudolph is wasted as a prostitute, but the movie could have used more of the rapper Scarface as her pimp.
The film's futuristic skits allude to Sleeper and Planet of the Apes, but the best jokes are naming-names anti-capitalist satire, like H&R Block's "Adult" Tax Return ("Home of the Gentleman's Rebate"). Overlong at seventy-five minutes, it could have been a great one-hour Comedy Central special. But like Office Space, Idiocracy will have to find its cult on DVD.
DVD EXTRAS Not much -- there's no commentary from Judge, and you can probably guess why.
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