"Idiocracy" Movie Review

    In 2006, a little movie called “Idiocracy” was released with almost no fanfare and with little awareness.  The film was essentially released direct to video (it played in a few theaters but never got a wide release).  Ironically, I was aware of the movie because I had seen a movie poster for it at my local theater and was curious about the title.  After realizing it was largely skipping theaters, I didn’t have much hope for it.  Direct to video titles are typically like Netflix titles, they are considered not good enough to release in theaters.  I still ended up buying it upon it’s release and I was pleasantly surprised.

    Let me start by saying that 2006 seemed like a simpler time looking back.   The idea the world could get so bad in five hundred years seemed ridiculous.  It’s 2019 and I feel like the world is already on the cusp of becoming as stupid as the one depicted in the movie.  What a difference a few years makes.

    The film focuses on Corporal Joe Bauers who is placed in suspended animation by the military along with a prostitute named Rita.  The two are forgotten about and are found five centuries later in a garbage pile.  The two wake up to an Earth in which only the dumbest people have kept reproducing.  Joe and Rita now have the highest IQs among everyone on the planet.  It is up to Joe and Rita to show the value of intelligence, despite being average at best.

    “Idiocracy” can now be looked back on as hilarious but also a little too on the nose.  Mike Judge, creator of both “Beavis and Butt-Head” and “King of the Hill”, makes us reevaluate our value of intelligence.  Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph are great as Joe and Rita.  The real standout in the film is Terry Crews.  Crews plays President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho with such ham and stupidity that he steals every scene he is in.

    The film has become something of a cult classic and one of the most underrated comedies of all time.  How can a film manage to tell such stupid and crude jokes all while judging said humor?  It is definitely a layered comedy and it somehow works.

    This gem of a comedy is only available on DVD right now via physical media.  I wish it would get a Blu-ray release one day but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards anytime soon.  Regardless, if you love comedies with social commentary, this is the movie for you!

Grade: A-