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Idiocracy

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Idiocracy
Film poster in the style of Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man" showing an imperfect slob
Promotional poster
Directed byMike Judge
Written byMike Judge
Etan Cohen
Produced byMike Judge
Elysa Koplovitz
Michael Nelson
StarringLuke Wilson
Maya Rudolph
Dax Shepard
Terry Crews
Narrated byEarl Mann
CinematographyTim Suhrstedt
Edited byDavid Rennie
Music byTheodore Shapiro
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
September 1, 2006 (2006-09-01)
Running time
84 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2-4 million
Box office$495,303 (original run)

Idiocracy is a 2006 American satirical Science fiction comedy, directed by Mike Judge and starring Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph and Dax Shepard.

The film tells the story of two ordinary people who are taken into a top-secret military hibernation experiment that goes awry, and awaken 500 years in the future. They discover that the world has degenerated into a dystopia where advertising, commercialism, and cultural anti-intellectualism run rampant and dysgenic pressure has resulted in a uniformly stupid human society devoid of individual responsibility or consequences.

Despite its lack of a major theatrical release, the film has achieved a cult following.[1]

Plot

During the prologue, a narrator (Earl Mann) explains that in modern society, natural selection is indifferent toward intelligence. In a society in which stupid people easily out-breed the intelligent, the result is a world that has degenerated into a barely functioning society held together by a rapidly crumbling, mostly automated technological infrastructure that was created by intelligent individuals many years (perhaps centuries) earlier that few, if any, of the less intelligent members of 26th Century society know how to operate or fix. In the 26th Century, highway overpasses have collapsed, structurally failing buildings are tied together for support, automated vacuuming systems barely function, voice-prompted machinery regularly misinterprets commands, computers automatically lay off workers without anybody knowing how to stop it, nuclear power plants leak and go unrepaired, and buildings often have huge holes in their roofs.

In 2005, Corporal Joe Bauers (Luke Wilson), a US Army librarian graphed as the Army's "most average" soldier, and Rita (Maya Rudolph), a prostitute whose pimp, Upgrayedd, (pronounced as "Upgrade") is paid to make sure she is not missed, are guinea pigs in a secret, year-long, military hibernation project. They are sealed in their hibernation chambers, to be awakened a year later, but the experiment is forgotten when the officer in charge, Lieutenant Colonel Collins, is arrested for having started his own prostitution ring under the tutelage of Upgrayedd. The military base is demolished, and a Fuddruckers (gradually renamed to "Buttfuckers") is built on the site.

Five hundred years in the future, Joe and Rita's hibernation chambers are jarred open by an enormous garbage avalanche. Joe crashes into the apartment of Frito Pendejo (Dax Shepard), a typical idiot of the future, with an apartment full of junk food and a prominent, giant television that is covered with advertisements. Joe heads to the hospital where he receives a diagnosis of "'tarded" and "fucked up" from a stoned doctor (Justin Long).

Seeing the date of 2505 on a magazine repeated on his bill, Joe realizes that 500 years have passed since he was frozen and he flees the hospital. Joe is arrested for not paying his hospital bill and for not having a barcode tattoo, which all residents have imprinted on their left arm. Meanwhile, Rita is not as shocked to see the newly changed world and quickly learns to take advantage of the lower intelligence of those around her to earn money as a prostitute.

At his trial, Joe's public defense lawyer, Frito, helps convict him, citing the damage done to his apartment. Joe is imprisoned. The I.D.-tattoo machine interprets Joe's confused response as his name, branding him "Not Sure". Joe takes an IQ test before escaping jail. Joe returns to Frito's apartment, asking him if a time machine exists to help him return to 2005. Frito claims there is one, but agrees to help only after Joe promises him billions of dollars.

En route to the time machine, Joe and Frito find Rita. She does not realize that she's been asleep for 500 years until Joe tells her so, but even so, she fears Upgrayedd will find her. Frito leads them to a city-sized Costco, where Joe is arrested again after his bar code is accidentally scanned. Instead of being returned to jail, Joe is taken to the White House to be signed in as the new Secretary of the Interior, the President (Terry Crews), a former porn star and professional wrestler, having seen the results of Joe's IQ test which show Joe as the smartest man alive. In a speech the President charges Joe with solving the world's problems: food shortages, dust bowls, a crippled economy, and related issues. If he doesn't solve the problems within a week, the President will kick him in the balls and send him back to prison.

Though Joe initially professes that he knows nothing of resolving these issues, when he discovers that the crops are watered with a Gatorade-like sports drink named "Brawndo", he finds himself knowledgeable enough to correct the problem. The narrator comments that "Brawndo has replaced water virtually everywhere" and that Brawndo purchased the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Federal Communications Commission. In response to the plan to correct the problem, White House cabinet members continuously repeated the Brawndo tag line, "Brawndo's got what plants crave. It's got electrolytes."

After several failed attempts to explain to the cabinet members the importance of water in irrigation, Joe instead convinces them that he can talk to plants, and persuades the cabinet members to start irrigating the crops with water. Unbeknownst to Joe, half the country works for Brawndo and his decision to use water in the fields causes the company's stock to plummet, causing massive unemployment, apparently without improving the crop situation. The angry population riots, and Joe is sentenced to "Rehabilitation", a demolition derby featuring undefeated Rehabilitation Officer Beef Supreme (Andrew Wilson).

Meanwhile, Rita discovers that Joe's reintroduction of water to the soil has finally made vegetation sprout in the fields. To save Joe (and with Frito in tow), she bribes a TV cameraman to show the thriving crops to the world. Imperiled, Joe gives a heartfelt speech, asking everyone if they really want to kill the one person who's trying to help them, but the audience simply responds by laughing at him. Just in time, Frito shows the thriving crops. The President sees the thriving new plants on the stadium's big screen televisions and gives Joe a full pardon just as he is about to be incinerated by a flamethrower. At the celebration, Joe decides to stay and help repair civilization and the President names Joe Vice President. He later finds that the time machine spoken of earlier is simply a highly inaccurate amusement park history ride.

Joe serves a short term as Vice President and is subsequently elected to the presidency. During his acceptance speech, Joe is heard making statements to the effect that in his time, reading "wasn't just for fags" and that movies had plots that made people care "whose ass it was and why it was farting", the last referring to a previous scene in the movie, where Joe went to a cinema to watch a comedic movie named "Ass", which consisted of a static image of a naked bottom accompanied by sounds of flatulence. The narrator states that, although Joe did not save humanity from itself, he did put it back on the track toward intelligence. Joe and Rita marry and have the world's three smartest children, while Frito, now Joe's Vice President, takes eight wives and fathers thirty-two of the world's stupidest children, echoing the introduction to the film.

After the credits, a third hibernation capsule is shown opening, releasing a snappily dressed Upgrayedd intent on tracking down Rita.

Cast

Production

Early working titles included The United States of Uhh-merica[2] and 3001. Filming took place during 2004 on several stages at Austin Studios[3][4] and in the cities of Austin, San Marcos, Pflugerville, and Round Rock, Texas.[5] Test screenings around March 2005 produced unofficial reports of poor audience reactions. After some re-shooting in the summer of 2005, a UK test screening in August produced a report of a positive impression.[6]

Release issues

The film's scheduled release date was August 5, 2005, according to Mike Judge.[7] In April 2006, a release date was set for September 1, 2006. In August, numerous articles[8] revealed that release was to be put on hold indefinitely. Idiocracy was released as scheduled but only in seven cities (Los Angeles, Atlanta, Toronto, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and Mike Judge's hometown, Austin),[4] and expanded to only 130 theaters,[9] not the usual wide release of 600 or more theaters.[10] According to the Austin American-Statesman, 20th Century Fox, the film's distributor, did nothing to promote the movie;[4] while posters were released to theatres, "no movie trailers, no ads, and only two stills,"[11] and no press kits were released.[12]

The film was not screened for critics.[13] Lack of concrete information from 20th Century Fox led to speculation that Fox may have actively tried to keep the film from being seen by a large audience, while fulfilling a contractual obligation for theatrical release ahead of a DVD release, according to Ryan Pearson of the AP.[9] That speculation was followed by open criticism of the studio's lack of support from Ain't It Cool News, TIME and Esquire.[14][15][16] TIME's Joel Stein wrote "the film's ads and trailers tested atrociously", but, "still, abandoning Idiocracy seems particularly unjust, since Judge has made a lot of money for Fox."[15]

In The New York Times Dan Mitchell argued that Fox might be shying away from the cautionary tale about low-intelligence dysgenics. It has been speculated that Fox downplayed the release of Idiocracy because the company did not want to offend average American viewers.[17] This was a result of the film's anti-corporate message, noting that in the film, Starbucks now delivers handjobs, and the motto of Carl's Jr. has degenerated from "Don't Bother Me. I'm Eating." to "Fuck You! I'm Eating!"[18]

Reception

Idiocracy was not screened for critics, its much-delayed release received virtually no publicity and the film was initially distributed to only 130 screens. Despite this lack of support from the studio, the film received generally favorable reviews by critics. Rotten Tomatoes returned a 74% "fresh" rating based on 38 reviews by critics,[19] Metacritic gives a score of 64% based on 8 critics, and a 7.4/10 rating by 81 site users.[20]

Praise focused on concept, casting, and humor; the worst of the criticism was directed at the film's release issues, some special effects and plot problems. Los Angeles Times reviewer Carina Chocano described it as "spot on" satire and a "pitch-black, bleakly hilarious vision of an American future", although the "plot, naturally, is silly and not exactly bound by logic. But it's Judge's gimlet-eyed knack for nightmarish extrapolation that makes Idiocracy a cathartic delight."[21] In a review only 87 words long[9] in Entertainment Weekly, Joshua Rich gave the film an "EW Grade" of "D" stating, "Mike Judge implores us to reflect on a future in which Britney and K-Fed are like the new Adam and Eve. Ow! My brain!"[22] The AV Club's Nathan Rabin found Luke Wilson "perfectly cast [...] as a quintessential everyman"; and wrote of the film: "Like so much superior science fiction, Idiocracy uses a fantastical future to comment on a present [...] . There's a good chance that Judge's smartly lowbrow Idiocracy will be mistaken for what it's satirizing."[13]

In other countries the film was reviewed positively. John Patterson, critic for The Guardian (U.K.), wrote, "Idiocracy isn't a masterpiece - Fox seems to have stiffed Judge on money at every stage - but it's endlessly funny", and of the film's popularity, described seeing the film "in a half-empty house. Two days later, same place, same show - packed-out."[23] Brazilian news magazine Veja, the largest in the country and fourth largest worldwide, called the film "politically incorrect", recommended that readers see the DVD, and wrote "the film went by unnoticed in American theatres and did not even screen in Brazil. The very proof that the future contemplated in it is not that far away."[24] Critic Alexandre Koball of CinePlayers.com (Brazil), while giving the movie a score of 5/5 along with another staff reviewer, wrote, "Idiocracy is not exactly [...] funny nor [...] innovative but it's a movie to make you think, even if for five minutes. And for that it manages to stay one level above the terrible average of comedy movies released in the last years in the United States."[25]

Box office

Box office receipts totaled $444,093 in 135 theaters in the U.S.[25]

Home media

The movie was released on DVD on January 9, 2007 with fullframe and widescreen aspect ratios, deleted scenes, English and Spanish spoken language tracks, and subtitles in English, Spanish, and French. As of February 2007, it had earned $9 million on DVD rentals, over 20 times the limited theatrical release.[26] On September 1, 2007 the film opened for cable and satellite viewers on the Cinemax premium channel, and started airing on HBO networks in January 2008. On February 15, 2009 the film received its basic cable premiere, shown edited for TV on Comedy Central. However, one written use of the word "fuck" was still shown, in the parody of the restaurant Fuddruckers known as "Buttfuckers" (removed since the premiere).

In the United Kingdom, unedited versions of the movie have been shown on satellite channel Sky Comedy on 26 February 2009 with the Freeview premiere shown on FilmFour on 26 April 2009.

Similar stories

The idea of a dystopian society based on dysgenics is not new. H. G. Wells' The Time Machine postulates a devolved society of humans, as do Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.[27][28]and the short story The Marching Morons by Cyril M. Kornbluth.

See also

References

  1. ^ Walker, Rob (2008-05-04). "This Joke's for You". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-05-26.
  2. ^ Pierce, Thomas (January 11, 2007). "So What Idiot Kept This Movie Out of Theaters? (3rd item)". NPR. Retrieved February 9, 2007.
  3. ^ "Idiocracy at Austin Studios. Facilities usage". Austin Studios;. Austin Film Society. Archived from the original on 2007-10-08. Retrieved 2010-06-18. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  4. ^ a b c Garcia, Chris (August 30, 2006). "Was 'Idiocracy' treated idiotically?". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved 2007-02-09.
  5. ^ "Texas Film Commission Filmography (2000-2007)". Office of the Governor. Archived from the original on 2008-08-22. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  6. ^ "Mike Judge's Idiocracy Tests! (etc.)". Eric Vespe quoting anonymous contributor. AintItCoolNews.com. August 22, 2005. Retrieved 2007-02-09.
  7. ^ Franklin, Garth (February 28, 2005.). "Mike Judge Still Not In "3001"". Dark Horizons. Archived from the original on 2008-02-05. Retrieved 2010-08-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ Carroll, Larry (August 30, 2006). "MTV Movie File". MTV.com. Viacom. Retrieved 2007-02-09.
  9. ^ a b c Pearson, Ryan (September 8, 2006). "The mystery of 'Idiocracy'". AP. Associated Press. Retrieved 2006-11-25.
  10. ^ About Movie Box Office Tracking and Terms. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  11. ^ Kernion, Jette (October 22, 2006). "Time for Mike Judge to go Indie". Cinematical.
  12. ^ Patel, Nihar (September 8, 2006). "A Paucity of Publicity for 'Idiocracy'". Day to Day. NPR. Transcript.
  13. ^ a b Rabin, Nathan (September 6, 2006.). "Idiocracy (review)". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved 2007-02-08. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ Vespe, Eric (September 2, 2006). "Open Letter to Fox re: IDIOCRACY!!!". Ain't It Cool News.
  15. ^ a b Stein, Joel (September 10, 2006). "Dude, Where's My Film?". Time Magazine.
  16. ^ Raftery, Brian (June 1, 2006). "Mike Judge Is Getting Screwed (Again)". Esquire.
  17. ^ Mitchell, Dan (September 9, 2006). "Shying away from Degeneracy". New York Times. Retrieved 2006-11-25.
  18. ^ Adawi, Kamal (August 8, 2008). "Idiocracy is Pure Genius". MBAcasestudysolutions.com. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
  19. ^ "Idiocracy". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 2009-09-08.
  20. ^ "Idiocracy". Metacritic. CBS. Retrieved 2009-09-08.
  21. ^ Chocano, Carina (September 4, 2006). "Movie review : 'Idiocracy'". calendarlive.com. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-09-29. [dead link]
  22. ^ Rich, Joshua (August 30, 2006). "Idiocracy (2006)". ew.com. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2010-09-29.
  23. ^ Patterson, John (September 8, 2006). "On film : Stupid Fox". The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-09-28.
  24. ^ "Idiocracy". veja.com (in Portuguese). Brazil: VEJA. March 21, 2007. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
  25. ^ a b Koball, Alexandre (April 12, 2007). "Idiocracy (2006)". CinePlayers.com (in Portuguese). Brazil. Retrieved 2010-09-16. Cite error: The named reference "mojo" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  26. ^ "Idiocracy - DVD / Home Video". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved 2007-02-02.
  27. ^ Tremblay, Ronald Michel (November 4, 2009). "Humankind's future: social and political Utopia or Idiocracy?". Atlantic Free Press. Retrieved 2010-05-08.
  28. ^ William Norman Grigg (May 14, 2010). "Idiocracy Rising". Lew Rockwell. Retrieved Oct. 2, 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
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