IDIOCRACY (2006)

[rra]

IDIOCRACY (2006) - **1/2

I'm actually surprised that none of the corporations mocked in Mike Judge's IDIOCRACY didn't sue the hell out of him and 20th Century Fox over many of the future gags. From FuddRuckers turned into ButtF-----s to Starbucks going from serving coffee to serving blowjobs, its kinda fun that Judge either got away with it. Nah, FOX probably paid good money to shut up said parties.

Years ago, when I was still a reviewer for "Test Pattern" at the now-defunct COMING ATTRATIONS BY CORONA website, the script for IDIOCRACY, then known as 3001, passed around the staff and I read it. I laughed and I wanted to see this movie.

That was six years ago. IDIOCRACY was shot in 2004 and released last year....if you want to call it a "release." It was more like FOX throwing a baby into a dumpster at the Prom. Though after seeing IDIOCRACY, I don't blame FOX for not wanting to lose money on this picture in theatres.

Who knows why Judge wanted to make IDIOCRACY. Maybe some idiot cut him off at traffic. Maybe it was the Intelligent Design folks. Either way, the whole premise of the movie is that Luke Wilson was a mediocre soldier in terms of intelligence and capacity so he's recruited for a hibernation experiment to last one year.

He's accidently forgotten and he wakes up 500 years later to a future where everyone is absolutely stupid, the #1 movie in theatres is an ass farting for 90 minutes, and worst of all, Wilson is the smartest man on Earth.

Quite a few reviews kept making the cliche that IDIOCRACY was "Judge making his own FUTURAMA" episode, and they're wrong. IDIOCRACY doesn't have the wit or smart pop culture gags of Matt Groening's program. Instead, I would say that its more like BEAVIS & BUTTHEAD set in the future. Its that sort of (stupid) humor that made Judge's career, and he's good at it.

Personally my favorite joke in IDIOCRACY is an image of the Reflecting Pool in Washington D.C., with a rundown Washington Monument in the distance, and rednecks boating and water-skiing on the sacred waters.

It's probably the best joke in the picture, and maybe that's the problem with IDIOCRACY. The same joke is repeated over and over again, with variations.

You have the Pro Wrestler-turned-President. There is the joke that its now "faggy & pompous" to use corret English, that these people are so stupid they use Gatorade instead of water on crops, you name it. Most of them though either feel flat or createed a "heh" instead of "Ha Ha" from me.

Then there is Maya Rudolph. I never liked her on SNL, and either its her fault, her character or both, she's damn annoying in IDIOCRACY.

That said, I enjoyed IDIOCRACY in a passing, video rental sense. Maybe not enough to recommend it, but surely beats the crap out of a few studio comedies that do get wide theatrical releases like the latest Dane Cook movie.

Besides, how can anyone hate a movie where Charlie Chaplin was a Nazi?

[THE Dinobot]

The Chaplin bit was splendid.
Terry Crews' character being a former four time Ultimate Smackdown champion is my favorite joke in the movie, along with the House of Representin'...and I guess anything Crews does.

There were a lot of repeating of the same joke that fell flat, and that was just baaaaad.
Dax Shepard needs to get type cast in these type of roles.

[rra]

dinobotbprime said:

The Chaplin bit was splendid.
Terry Crews' character being a former four time Ultimate Smackdown champion is my favorite joke in the movie, along with the House of Representin'...and I guess anything Crews does.

There were a lot of repeating of the same joke that fell flat, and that was just baaaaad.
Dax Shepard needs to get type cast in these type of roles.

Yeah, I liked Crews as a combination of Hulk Hogan macho-stupidity, and like the Duke of New York from ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK. Fun stuff.

Plus, those giant-ass medals. ;D

That said, I realized just now from wikipedia that the Frito character is named after a term that supposedly is slang for "dumbass" in Spanish. I wouldn't know, but so one of my favorite salty snacks is Dumbass?!?!

[jamofpearls]

rra, i didn't realize you were apart of Corona, i was on that site every day way back when.

[Go 2 Sleeeeeeeeeep!]

This movie was really good. The only thing I'd say it needed was more money for better effects.

And Luke Wilson's "Oh, God damn it" when he opens the map is priceless.

[rra]

decodedfromspace said:

This movie was really good. The only thing I'd say it needed was more money for better effects.

And Luke Wilson's "Oh, God damn it" when he opens the map is priceless.

Yes it was priceless.

Would you like Carl Jr's BIG ASS Fries?

[Batman]

I saw this movie on HBO a couple weeks ago. It was mildly entertaining with a few laughs, but nothing special. I think Luke Wilson is hilarious, and that's the only reason I watched this.

[rra]

drthv8r said:

rra, i didn't realize you were apart of Corona, i was on that site every day way back when.

WOW, really? Talk about a small world after all.

Yeah, I miss that joint. Unfortunately, Patrick Saurol got a good deal from CINESCAPE for the merger. Just unfortunate that the forums were whacked and despite what he tried to do, CINESCAPE was a magazine and website owned and operated by morons who are star suck-offs this side of Seth McFarlane.

But yeah, I was in, and even penned my first few reviews before the merger happened. Looking back, that THE ONE DVD review was remarkably bad. The sort one would expect from a dumbass teen that DOESN'T think he is a dumbass kid.

[rra]

batman said:

I saw this movie on HBO a couple weeks ago. It was mildly entertaining with a few laughs, but nothing special. I think Luke Wilson is hilarious, and that's the only reason I watched this.

And thats pretty much the same short-version opinion that I have of the movie.

[Chainsaw]

This movie was hilarious. Only problem is, now, everytime I see that Beyonce "Upgrade" DirectTV spot on TV, I think of Maya Rudolph's pimp.

[jamofpearls]

rra said:

drthv8r said:

rra, i didn't realize you were apart of Corona, i was on that site every day way back when.

WOW, really? Talk about a small world after all.

Yeah, I miss that joint. Unfortunately, Patrick Saurol got a good deal from CINESCAPE for the merger. Just unfortunate that the forums were whacked and despite what he tried to do, CINESCAPE was a magazine and website owned and operated by morons who are star suck-offs this side of Seth McFarlane.

But yeah, I was in, and even penned my first few reviews before the merger happened. Looking back, that THE ONE DVD review was remarkably bad. The sort one would expect from a dumbass teen that DOESN'T think he is a dumbass kid.

No doubt.
After Corona closed, i did visit cinescape for a while. I think i got quoted on the website once or twice.

[rra]

drthv8r said:

rra said:

WOW, really? Talk about a small world after all.

Yeah, I miss that joint. Unfortunately, Patrick Saurol got a good deal from CINESCAPE for the merger. Just unfortunate that the forums were whacked and despite what he tried to do, CINESCAPE was a magazine and website owned and operated by morons who are star suck-offs this side of Seth McFarlane.

But yeah, I was in, and even penned my first few reviews before the merger happened. Looking back, that THE ONE DVD review was remarkably bad. The sort one would expect from a dumbass teen that DOESN'T think he is a dumbass kid.

No doubt.
After Corona closed, i did visit cinescape for a while. I think i got quoted on the website once or twice.

And I wouldn't be shocked if that was the only good quotes on that piece of s*** website.

Still, short-lived as my TP gig was, I did get a few free DVDs....including a movie that had gotten a mixed to negative reaction at Sundance and wasn't even "the" cult flick yet, hell it wasn't even known at all since its theatrical release was nill...

Why DONNIE DARKO of course. Its just too bad that cultdom sorta ruined it for what it was.

[jamofpearls]

rra said:

drthv8r said:

No doubt.
After Corona closed, i did visit cinescape for a while. I think i got quoted on the website once or twice.

And I wouldn't be shocked if that was the only good quotes on that piece of s*** website.

Still, short-lived as my TP gig was, I did get a few free DVDs....including a movie that had gotten a mixed to negative reaction at Sundance and wasn't even "the" cult flick yet, hell it wasn't even known at all since its theatrical release was nill...

Why DONNIE DARKO of course. Its just too bad that cultdom sorta ruined it for what it was.

I think the quote was from a discussion about Kingpin played by a black man in stead of a white guy like in the comics. I said that it had to be michael clarke duncan to play that role. Something about the only white guy that could play him would be butterbean, and no one wanted to see that. That it blah blah blah, had nothing to do w/ race, and they just needed a big guy who can act to play kingpin.
With Darko, i didn't know much about it myself. I had a roommate in about 02/03 that owned it on dvd, and I watched it. Didn't know a whole lot about it. So the cult hype machine kind of passed me by. So i got to enjoy it on its own merits.

[rra]

drthv8r said:

rra said:

And I wouldn't be shocked if that was the only good quotes on that piece of s*** website.

Still, short-lived as my TP gig was, I did get a few free DVDs....including a movie that had gotten a mixed to negative reaction at Sundance and wasn't even "the" cult flick yet, hell it wasn't even known at all since its theatrical release was nill...

Why DONNIE DARKO of course. Its just too bad that cultdom sorta ruined it for what it was.

With Darko, i didn't know much about it myself. I had a roommate in about 02/03 that owned it on dvd, and I watched it. Didn't know a whole lot about it. So the cult hype machine kind of passed me by. So i got to enjoy it on its own merits.

Indeed.

Though I want to see SOUTHLAND TALES, if only because its the new super-hated bomb.

[jamofpearls]

rra said:

drthv8r said:

With Darko, i didn't know much about it myself. I had a roommate in about 02/03 that owned it on dvd, and I watched it. Didn't know a whole lot about it. So the cult hype machine kind of passed me by. So i got to enjoy it on its own merits.

Indeed.

Though I want to see SOUTHLAND TALES, if only because its the new super-hated bomb.

I've been interested in it since it has been in production since what...1885 now?

[Virt McGirt]

I don't quite know why, but Sara Rue (Secretary Juggs, as David Herman calls her) saying "It's got ELEC-TRO-LYTES" with that weird hand motion's my favorite part.

But overall, I kinda agree with you, it was OK, but not hilarious.

[Phosphor Glow]

I actually thought it was quite hilarious, but I'll be the first to admit that I am sometimes quite easily amused, and things don't always have to be subtle for me to appreciate them.

Every once in awhile I enjoy being punched in the face with a message.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

The highlight of the film for me was when the humongous monster vehicle was too big to get into the arena.

[Cela]

Loved the intro, but the rest of the movie didn't do much for me.

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

That movie has me torn. On the one hand, I don't the world to end up like it does in the movie. On the other hand, I would love to go into H&R Block and Starbuck and get sex with my coffee and tax returns.