Saturday 19 January 2008

Idiocracy

Let me start off by saying that I used to like Mike Judge. Or to rephrase, I used to like Mike Judge's work. Never met the man. I was a fan of Beavis and Butthead (I admit that to you with no shame in my heart), Office Space is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I have even laughed at the odd episode of King of the Hill even though I don't watch it regularly. I used to like Mike Judge.

However, I will never, EVER forgive him for the brain cells that I lost while watching Idiocracy this afternoon. He can burn in Hell for all I care!

The plot, such as it is, is about an Army private and a prostitute who volunteer to be frozen in hibernation for a year to test the process for future use. The private was selected for this test because he is exceedingly average (is that possible?) in every way and because he has no family. The prostitute was chosen so they could make prostitute jokes.

Something goes wrong and they wind up being frozen for 500 years. In that time period, the world has become an increasingly dumb and dumber place. This is illustrated by the hamburger food chain FuddRuckers gradually being renamed to ButtFuckers after it is all said and done. See what they did there? They brought the funny. I laughed. I cried. I hit my head against a wall.

This future is so dumb that this extraordinarily average private (played by the extraordinarily average Luke Wilson) is now the smartest man in the world. His fortunes rise and fall and rise again until he winds up as the President of the United States. Imagine that. A future in which our President is a marginal idiot. Hmmm.

The acting, writing, direction and mere existence of this film is an insult to anyone who knows how to spell the world "film". This may be the worst movie I have ever seen in my life. And before we get comments from Mr. Judge (because he's a fan) about how it is a satire and that he was trying to comment on the current state of our country, it's stance on environmental issues, violence in media and corporate sponsorship, I would like to say...ppppthhhhbbblllttttt!!!!!! With extra spit, please.

That being said, if you were planning on spending an evening hammering a nail through your scrotum or female parts then this could be a pleasant diversion.

Or not. Depends on your tolerance for pain.

6 comments:

i am the diva said...

i watched about the first five minutes of this movie - where they go on and on about the educated rich couple waiting and waiting to give birth while the hillbilly white trash dude multiplies by rabbits - and that's about as far as i made it. After watching "Let's go to Prison" i was looking forward to more Dax Shephard. oh well. some other time, while self piercing my labia with rusty nails.

Verdant Earl said...

Thank you for specifying a female part. I knew I was being too generic.

Bruce Johnson said...

Overall, not a great film, but an interesting premise. There are some good sight gages in the film, but not enough to save it from being totally regrettable.

There is one part of the film that makes it worth watching. The first 10 minutes where it shows the family trees of the two couples procreating is hilarious. The upper-middle class preppies that are waiting for the stock market to go up before conceiving as opposed to the white trash hicks whose son is going to 'fuck all you cheerleaders' after winning the homecoming game. It was funny, and hit pretty close to home...because it is true.

Verdant Earl said...

lotus - to each his own. I even thought that stuff was obvious and un-funny.

Slyde said...

i admit that i have always wanted to see this one... now, not so much...

Verdant Earl said...

I'm surprised you had even heard of it. I hadn't.

Still kinda wish that.