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Army private Joe Bauers is deemed suitably average by government
scientists and is assigned to be a guinea pig in an experiment
to test if humans can be stored indefinitely in hibernation.
Also taking part in the experiment is Joe's female counterpart
Rita, reluctantly let go by her pimp. While the pair sleep
in sealed pods on an army base just outside Washington D.C.,
the government base closes, the experiment is forgotten and
they lie undiscovered for centuries. Meanwhile, a dumbed-down
nation has grown so hopeless that most technology collapses.
Upon waking, Joe and Rita find themselves in a world where
stupidity reigns. Stupid people have outbred intelligent people
and the world is (barely) run by morons. To his shock, Joe
soon learns he is now the smartest man alive and is recruited
by the White House to solve all of the nation's problems...
Subtle
this isn't, but then the message at the centre of this movie
will give most viewers a point worth reflecting on. What will
happen if we continue to let the stupid people breed more
prolifically than the more intelligent sections of our society?
Idiocracy's writer and director, Mike Judge, brings
to life a theory that I've been discussing, with anyone that
will listen to me, for years. The human species is evolving
backwards.
The
irony here is that, much like Judge's Beavis and Butt-Head
characters which were most popular with the demographic that
they were ridiculing, Idiocracy will most likely be
best loved by those segments of society it is extracting the
urine out of.
For
years my girlfriend and I have moaned about the state of the
UK - that there's very little incentive for the unemployed
to find a job. By the time they've found something that pays
a half decent wage, they then have to pay tax, council tax
and extortionate rent prices. They're only slightly better
off, so what's the point? It's a trap that's almost impossible
to get out of.
Add
to this the fact that hardworking, intelligent couples are
unable to have children because it is just too expensive,
yet those on benefits find themselves financially better off
the more children that they have, and you have yourself a
situation where the gene pool is being expanded by those who
sit at home getting their view of the world through Rupert
Murdoch's Sky network. Murdoch also owns 20th Century Fox,
who are releasing this DVD - how ironic.
This
is the first comedy that I've laughed out loud at for quite
some time - but then I was laughing at something that has
pained me for some years. Sure
it's not highbrow entertainment - it really scrapes the bottom
of the barrel for some of its gags - but then it is parodying
the way our society could easily go in several thousand years
time if something isn't done about the way we live now.
At
the start, I thought that this was going to revitalise the
humour that was stereotypical of movies like Airplane.
When Officer Collins - whose research to find find Rita has
obviously resulted in him hanging out with the seedier side
of the city - starts to explain a pimp's love for his women,
I was instantly reminded of those old '80s comedies where
subtlety played second fiddle to the in-your-face gags.
Quite
a few of the jokes revolve around things that we now take
for granted which, when there's no intelligent people left,
will fall into disrepair. When large buildings start to crumble
and fall over they are prevented from collapsing by having
duct-taped wrapped around them; Starbucks is part coffee house,
part brothel; and no one uses water any more (That stuff in
toilets?!). Energy drinks have replace H20, with disastrous
results.
At
the centre of this movie is Luke Wilson, playing Joe, and
Maya Rudolph as Rita. While it was easy to warm to Wilson's
character, Rudolph's was a little too one-dimensional. So
much more could have been made of Rita, but instead she's
used for the prostitute gags. It's a bit of a shame as she's
the only fleshed out female character in the movie. It could
be that devolving, the future of mankind has indeed regressed
to the point where women are seen as second class citizens
once again. But if that is the case, why was more not made
of this. And if humanity has regressed in that way, how come
progress worked well in another area - with Americans, at
long last, electing a black President (even if he is an ex-wrestler)
to office?
There's
social commentary on crap TV too. Ow! My Balls! is
the top rated TV show. Basically this is a show where a guy
keeps getting hit in the balls... with hilarious consequences...
and that's it. Hmmm. Sounds like an idea for a new Fox show,
surely.
Extras
are a little poor. All we get are a collection of deleted
scenes. However, there is one extra on the actually movie
- yup, it's time to watch the end credits, as at the end there
is another minute of film which adds a little extra something
to the movie.
Towards
the end of the movie Joe addresses Congress, saying: "There
was a time when reading wasn't just for fags. And neither
was writing. People wrote books and movies. Movies with stories,
that made you care about who's ass it was and why it was farting.
And I believe that time can come again!"
Switch
off the part of your brain that makes you tut at lowbrow comedy
and you'll enjoy the ride.
Darren
Rea
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