Underrated Gems: Idiocracy
Author's note: All pictures used in this review are valid under the terms of the fair use law of 1976.
Welcome to another edition of Underrated Gems. The review series that looks at movies that didn’t do well that turn out to be very good. And this edition is an unexpected one. This comes courtesy of a request of a friend of mine from Facebook, Nathan Hart. He goes by the name Nate Heimer II there.
I’m trying to build up an audience and good reputation by fulfilling requests. So, when this came along, I had to jump at the chance.
So, for this edition the movie under review will be the Mike Judge directed film Idiocracy. Judge wrote the film along with Etan Cohen. This movie is a sci-fi/comedy that debuted on September 1st, 2005.
In the movie actor Luke Wilson plays Joe Bauers. He’s an Army librarian who prefers to get out of the way when things get tough. But this time he’s about to get forced into far more than he bargained for. The Army has volunteered someone who is about as average as it gets for a hibernation project. The goal is to freeze him for a year as an experiment to see about freezing smarter and better people.
Since he has no family and is unremarkable the Army sees Bauer as the perfect Guinea pig if things go wrong. Actress and comedienne Maya Rudolph takes on the role of Rita. She's a prostitute bought by the Army for the experiment. And her payment is having her prostitution charges dismissed. And it becomes clear that to buy her for this the head of this project had to engage in some rather…unsavory things.
They involve Rita's pimp who goes by the street name Upgrayedd. What a quaint little name for a pimp, note the sarcasm. Also, gee this is going to end well I’ll bet!
Rita is reluctant to go through with the experiment and Joe is not thrilled about it either. But the man of average intelligence assures her it’ll be fine. Yeah, famous last words anyone? Then the two go into hibernation.
After the project begins that’s when things go downhill. A scandal erupts involving the head of the initiative at the base and Upgrayedd. The result is the base gets shut down and the Commander arrested. Which of course leaves Rita and Joe in cold sleep. Wow, who didn’t see this coming from a mile away!
Over the next five hundred years things go downhill for the world. Well-educated people don’t produce children and intelligence gets discouraged. Meanwhile the shallow side of the gene pool propagates like rabbits. Attempts at genetic engineering get pushed aside. Replaced by working on…hair loss and erectile dysfunction?
As amusing as this is it’s also a case of really…really…really? Ooh my head hurts!
Things have only gotten worse as low comedy and explicitness define culture. Consumerism runs rampant and no one produces anything. Gee that's not the makings of a dystopian society at all!! Worst of all big corporations run the world.
This sure isn’t the bright and optimistic future so many sci-fi authors hoped for. In fact, this future looks rather terrifying. There’ve been some frightening dystopian futures presented before. Fahrenheit 451, A Clockwork Orange, even Logan’s Run have shown disturbing visions. Granted this is a comedy but it's still a very frightening future.
A great trash avalanche disturbs Rita and Joe’s hibernation pods. As a result, he ends up crashing into and destroying an apartment. Said apartment is the home of one Frito Pendejo. He's played by actor, comedian, and filmmaker Dax Sheperd. Frito is enjoying a broadcast of the show Ow my balls.
Gee what high quality entertainment. Also, of note the apartment is in what’s supposed to be Washington D.C. But the place has become desert-like. The reasoning behind this will become clear soon.
Joe goes to a hospital believing that he’s under the effects of some kind of Army hallucinogenic drug. And then he reads a magazine and sees what year it is. Welcome to the real-world Joe, and this future is horrific!
Everyone is speaking a weird mix of hillbilly, valley girl, and Inner-city slang. Yeah, not exactly the most stimulating language there is. Ooh my head hurts!
Joe ends up fleeing the hospital and gets arrested at a Carl’s Jr. for having no bar code and not paying his hospital bill. Is this what all people have become walking-talking bar codes. See kids this is what happens when you stop using your brain and let big corporations run things.
Joe gets sent to trial where Frito represents him. And Frito proceeds to sink his case by claiming he trashed his apartment, he didn't. Joe tries to explain things but finds reason and logic don't work here. Gee, now what could the reason for that be?
The Judge proves to be a real cretin as he finds Joe to have an effeminate voice and homosexual demeanor. This makes no sense as Joe has never shown any sign of those things. But then again this is the world of Idiocracy. The judge finds him guilty and sentences him to prison. But fear not as in this movie the cringe will continue soon.
Meanwhile Rita has awakened and returned to her job as a prostitute. And she has herself a new pimp who’s more a simp than anything else. What a shocking turn of events. Yes, this movie is a comedy but good grief the level of stupidity is unbelievable. Ooh my head hurts!
At the correctional facility Joe places his arm in a faulty I.D. machine. And he ends up getting the name Not Sure. Good grief if he was still with us this future would’ve given Harlan Ellison a conniption fit! Joe takes a simplified aptitude test. The ramifications will come into play later.
After a brief look at how insane prison life is Joe comes up with a desperate plan. He claims that he’s done serving his sentence. The guards end up buying it and send him to get processed. More cringe in the world of idiocracy.
At the gate station he suckers the guard into turning his back. Joe then flees the facility and tracks down Frito.
The lawyer agrees to guide him to a time machine that can take him back in time. In return Joe promises when he gets back to the past, he’ll set up a savings account for Frito. Yeah, I get the sense the future economy and Frito don’t understand compound interest.
Along the way the two pick up Rita. The prostitute who claims to be an artist learns it’s been 500 years, and her pimp Upgraydd is dead. Joe hopes to return to 2005 to get him and Rita back to their lives.
One of the city’s trackers scans Joe's tattoo and slows Frito’s car to a stop. The three flee the car as a security unit closes in and destroys the car. Yikes is all that anyone could say to this overzealous show of force.
Why does this time machine goal seem too easy and convenient? Said device is in a Costco Wholesale store. On their way to it Joe and Rita see how infrastructure has gone down with the intelligence of people.
The three get to their destination and see how everything has changed. Starbucks as one example is not a coffee seller anymore. Again, welcome to the world of Idiocracy. Rita heads off to use the bathroom. But then Joe gets arrested when his bar code gets scanned…again. See kids this is part of why an all-digital future isn’t a good idea.
To his surprise Joe gets taken to the White House. It seems his average intelligence is genius level in this time, what a surprise! He meets the cabinet of America and then the president Dwayne Commancho. In this time a male porn star and smackdown champion is president, wow! Actor and former NFL Football player Terry Crews takes on the part of Commancho.
It seems they want his help in dealing with the dust storms and food shortages ravaging the country. And he's forced into it when the president promises to have him do so and more in one week. And he also adds a presidential pardon if he succeeds. Gee, there's no pressure at all here! Not exactly Rome getting built in a day, but still a bad situation for poor Joe.
It is of note that Terry Crews seemed to enjoy his role in this movie a little too much. Stil, what’s the sense of a good comedy if people can't make fun of themselves??
At first Joe is unsure of what to do. Frito arrives and Joe tries to get him to show him to the time machine. The problem is Frito's directions are incomprehensible to him. The cabinet also bring Rita who they managed to track down.
Out in a field Joe convinces the rest of the presidential cabinet to leave him and Rita alone. But surprise-surprise, misfortune strikes them. The map to the time machine that Frito gave them is also incomprehensible.
Rita and Joe learn the reason crops are failing. Brawndo, a sports drink is what the crops are getting watered with. Good grief basic science here people! Sports drinks contain electrolytes which contain salt! That salt has been building up rending the ground infertile.
Plants can’t grow that way they need water. The problem is Brawndo bought the food and Drug administration as well as the FEC. So, they're one of the companies that run the world. And the result is a hilarious yet cringy line. “But Brawndo gives plants what they need, electrolytes.”
See, this is an example of what happens when clueless corporations call the shots. Ooh my head hurts!
And so, Joe engages in a desperate plan to get the crops growing with water. All goes well until the use of water instead of Brawndo causes an economic collapse. This is what happens when a tiny minority of corporations run everything. And thus, it puts Joe in even bigger trouble.
Can Joe and Rita survive in this insane and dumb new era. And what other insults and disasters will poor Joe get subjected to?
Now what makes this movie an underrated gem? Well, it has to do with the fact Mike Judge and Etan Cohen do some good writing. Mike Judge does a pretty good job of directing this movie. The way he shows how crazy the future has become is at once terrifying and yet so brilliant! This film also addresses tough subjects in a hilarious way.
A good example is the idea of pure consumerism without making anything.
Maya Rudolph does a good job as Rita. Luke Wilson who’s always been a good actor does a great job of playing Joe. Terry Crews is hilarious in his over-the-top role of President Commacho. Dex Sheperd is an absolute idiotic delight as Frito.
The plot is cringeworthy but does this on purpose, and it is funny. That is funny in a what in God’s name is wrong with this world kind of way.
Now that said there is a certain part of this movie I must address. At one point in the movie Joe makes mention of how people should stay in school and get educated. Now I can understand the idea of being an individual and getting educated. I don’t argue against that at all. In fact, I agree with that sentiment 100%.
But one thing this movie doesn’t address very well is the idea of what if the Education system itself is the problem.
Do pardon if for this review I go off on a tangent, but this is rather personal to me. I know how that goes because I went to a public school system that was a card-carrying Idiocracy. I attended Portland Public Schools in my elementary through High School years. The public school system in Portland, Oregon one can argue is one of the worst in the country. Due in part to a major lack of discipline in the system.
They also had a hard enough time understanding my visual impairment. Add in my Asperger's and yeah…a recipe for disaster!
For the most part the public school system failed me. It was only after I started to attend Mount Hood Community College that I learned something. Being in an environment with people who wanted to learn and capable teachers helped a lot.
After I left the Portland Public School system, I’ve checked up on things from time to time. All I can say is the system has gone even farther downhill since I left.
This has to do with the movie for one reason. Judge and Cohen could've shown how dumbed down the school systems had become. But to be fair this movie came out over a decade ago. So, they could get forgiven for missing this subject.
On that note I can say that Idiocracy is a well-done movie worthy of its cult status. It shows us a humorous version of a dystopian society that could be. This can serve as a reminder in why we need to uphold standards of intellectual integrity. That way we can avoid getting into a real Idiocracy like what Judge and Cohen created.
So, a fun and humorous story, some great acting from Luke Wilson, Terry Crews, Maya Rudolph, and Dex Sheperd. And that’s what makes Idiocracy an Underrated Gem.
Thanks for reading this review and I hope you enjoyed this look at Idiocracy. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section. Did I do good or does my work need improvement? Constructive criticism is welcome here as your input helps me become a better writer.
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