Netflix Catch - Idiocracy
One would think that if you are studio/distributor and you own a Mike Judge movie starring Luke Wilson, you would promote the movie, release it in theaters, and then hold a major advertising campaign when the DVD was released. Especially if his cult film “Office Space”, continues to generate revenue after its 1999 DVD release (it only earned $10 million at the box office).
But, Fox buried Mike Judge’s movie Idiocracy. Only 150 copies of the film were released to theatres last September, and most theaters only played the movie for a week. There was no advertising, and little press. I was out of town during the Los Angeles release, and missed it, even thought I was dying to see it. So, when it was released on video last month, I did something I rarely do and moved this film to the top of my Netflix queue.
I have long been a fan of Mike Judge. As a teenager, I used to look forward to his Beavis and Butthead cartoons at the Festival of Animation every year, and am a humongous fan of Office Space. I have never seen “King of the Hill” (an American animated television show), but many of my friends rave about the greatness of this show.
There are conspiracy theorists on the Internet who believe that the reason Fox treated this movie so badly is that they are hoping it will become a long-term money generating film like Office Space, that by purposefully ignoring the film they can create another cult hit. I think the reason Fox killed this film is that Mike Judge made clever, smart, but ultimately unfunny and barely interesting movie.
A US Army soldier who is exceedingly average in every way is chosen for a government experiment to be frozen for one year as a way of testing the feasibility of cryogenics. There are no average female soldiers, so a hooker is chosen to be his partner in the experiment. The experiment goes wrong, and they awaken in 2505. During the 21st century, intelligent and educated American citizens were too busy to procreate, but the dumb lower classes were breeding like bunnies, and by 2505 intelligence has been bred out of humans. The average soldier and hooker awake to find themselves the smartest people in the world.
This should be funnier. Mike Judge is one of the only people capable of poking fun at the average American without patronizing. And he has all the elements in this film to make something hilarious. The language he has created in Idiocracy to show the dumbing down of America is brilliant (a mixture of Southern Trash, Valley Girl, and homey). He shows the degeneration of American culture by taking us on a trip to a future where a movie called “Ass” is an Academy Award winner. Children visit The Museum of Fart. A popular television show is called, “Ouch, My Balls”. The product placement jokes and the twisting of the names of American corporate establishments continues throughout the film, and is always humorous, but not laugh-out-loud funny. They should have been. Judge can write both smart and funny and biting, all at the same time, but just doesn’t deliver in this film.
If you are a Mike Judge fan, this is a must see film. But, if you are not familiar with his work, see his film Office Space. Even though I don’t think this was a bad movie, it isn’t a good one, either, and I have a difficult time recommending it to anyone who isn’t already a fan of his. But, the brilliance of Office Space, coupled with the future portrayed but not fully realized in Idiocracy mean that I am eagerly awaiting whatever film Mike Judge makes next.
p.s. This morning I emailed a bunch of friends who loved this movie to ask what I missed, to ask why didn’t I think this movie was as great as I had heard it was. What I got back were one-line responses quoting Idiocracy’s best masturbation lines/jokes. Maybe the movie is more brilliant than I realized at first viewing. Maybe the dumbing down of America has already begun…
Filed Under
Movies, Review
  Loading ... |
 Email This Post To Friends
|
|
Related Posts | |
15 Responses to “Netflix Catch - Idiocracy”
Leave a Reply
(Ref smilies)
Our Comments Policy : The following kinds of comments are troll capped, blocked and/or commenter's identity reported publicly: Verbal abuse, personal attacks, hate statements, spam, trolls, advertising. Please assist us in keeping the comments clean. Use the contact form to let us know if you find unwarranted comments on PFC. Thank you.
-
Advertisement
-
- Sorry Bhai R
- Irresponsible medium:Shame on me to be an aud
- Oye Dibakar, Dibakar
- I’m mad as hell and I won’t take it any
- Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! Reviews from re
- Catherine Deneuve in India - Win World Cinema DVDs
- OLLO is an incredible study of human character
- Who Is This Terrorist?? An answer
- Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! Reviews from readers
- Oye Dibakar, Dibakar Oye!
-
Advertisement
Hottest Today:
Recent Posts:
I love the last line of your post
From my experience, the same people who love Office Space love Donnie Darco.
@ Shripriya - Thanks! What is funny is that the people who responded with the “blue” jokes all have children
@ nimmi - I can’t speak for others, but Donnie Darko is one of my favourite movies. What an amazing movie, and another one that bombed at the theatres and found cult status and money once it was released on DVD.
Personally I loved Donnie Darko. Now that I think about I know loads more people who like Office Space than Donnie Darko. Sorry for spelling it wrong. I saw the movie about 3 years when I was in high school, and it was because of my English teacher who let us see it during finals week. I remember she had us get permission slips to go see it since it was rated R. She was so cool. as we got to watch Apocalypse Now and Blade Runner after reading Heart of Darkness. Of course afterwards we had to write an essay comparing all 3 to one another.
Holy cow, you got to watch this in school???
That is amazing.
What was her reason for showing this film to a class?
I am curious as I used to teach High School students, and while Apocalypse Now is almost required watching, I can’t believe Donnie Darko!!! She is great!
At my first high school, the only movie we saw was Zeffirelli’s Romeo & Juliet.
It served its purpose, I became hooked on Shakespeare, and have become a fan of the film adaptations of his works, as well as of his writing.
DD is a dark film, and because of the twists it may not be for everyone.
But, that is why I loved it so much.
If you liked Office Space, then Idiocracy is a film you may appreciate more than the average viewer.
If you watch the deleted scenes, you will find that he cut the scenes with a manager who is remarkably like the Bill Lumbergh character in Office Space, with none of the charm of Gary Cole.
You should email me offline, I am very curious as to what your essay topic was on the three movies.
You can take the teacher out of the classroom…
Also, have you read “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” by Philip K. Dick?
That was the source material for Blade Runner, and one of the few movies adapted from his writings that really captured his feelings of alienation in modern society…
“…I have never seen The Family Guy (an American animated television show), but many of my friends rave about the greatness of this show…”
Judge had nothing to do with ‘The Family Guy’ He did however create ‘King of the Hill’ an animated show about a family man.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118375/
@ Kenno - Thanks for pointing out my mistake!!!
I will fix this in the post sometime today.
I don’t watch TV, but have many friends that are addicted to Adult Swim (adult animation programming in the US), Simpsons, Family Guy, King of the Hill, et al.
I go blank when they talk about TV and animation.
I should pay more attention.
And, check IMDB for typos before I click submit
I absolutely loved Office Space.. didn
Will watch….Office Space has over the time become a geek’s paradise..;) just like what Star Wars was in.. ahem..long time before i was born…
Watched the movie yesterday…
Now the concept was good but the execution was bad…I had very high hopes from the movie specially when some of the independent critics liked it…but was not excited while watching.
Just some pointers:
Cant imagine people being sooooo dumb that they even forget that water is reqd to grow plants…considering most of the movie is about that only.
It would have been good if Luke was able to make people smarter…make that pile of garbage go away…make the city a better place to live…BUT JUST NOTHING WAS SHOWN.
Luke was not at its best…that chick with Luke was horrible.
Just as I am writing this I realised how bad the movie actually is…I mean this idea could have generated millions if it would had been put to better execution.
SKIP THIS ONE FOR SURE.
@ shitij - I think the plot thread about people forgetting to use water to grow plants was brilliant, but as you pointed out - not executed correctly.
I think it is entirely possible from a fantasy/comedy/sci-fi point of view for people to become so dumb they forget about water.
Think about this, most of the major economies in the world are not countries or nation states, but multi-national corporations.
They have a vested interest in trying to create the world portrayed in Idiocracy.
Nestle has been trying to get women in poor and developing countries to forget about breast milk for years.
Monsanto is trying to make farmers forget traditional farming techniques.
Soft drink companies are trying to get mothers to forget about natural juices.
That eventually we might become so dumb that we drink the corporatist Kool-Aide is not so far fetched.
To bad the only exploration it got was a barely funny interlude about electrolytes (sp).
The female actress in the film is Maya Rudolph, one of the most talented and funny comedians in the US.
Her talent was totally wasted in this film.
One thing I did enjoy about the film was the supporting cast.
They all did a remarkable job of acting stupid by playing their characters “straight”.
This movie would have been horrifying if it weren’t for them.
Sorry to go off on another one of my political tangents…
I would quiet agree with u on what u have said…but the movie crossed all limits man :o:o:o
I mean when was escaping jail that easy :-t:-t “the guy just simply walks out”.
The guy who acted as the president was the best of the lot…one more good pt was showing most of the people as obese/fatty (that front : I completely agree with the director…these Americans will surely go dumb , stuffing there asses with all that shit)
The director made America look like MEXICO or CUBA…really it was too wild an imagination…but yes charecter artists were good.
I saw this movie last month. it rocks. Thought nothing like OFFICE SPACE
The production looked shoddy!
Expect Mike Judge to put a little more effort
@ mainak - I would love to know why you loved this movie so much, without your using the words “‘baitin” or “latte”.
I loved the set production of the film!!!
The sets were amazing!
Not amazing, like he had $10 million to spare amazing, but, interesting in what he was able to do with a limited budgert without the set looking too much like a sound stage.
Where it did look like a soundstage there were many visual jokes to distract from the fact that this was not a big-budget film.
With what he had to work with, he made something I really enjoyed watching from a visual standpoint.
@ shitij - The American middle class is disappearing, and the idea of a future America looking as depicted in the film is not farfetched.
THAT is why this movie disappointed me.
Everything that you are mentioning as outside the limits is not, it is all a left-leaning cynics view of what is currently happening in this country and the path we are on.
I agree with all of it - his entire message.
Too bad he just didn’t make it funny.
t!
I liked the film beacause it stupid & frighteningly true at the same time.
My fav is when people think he is a fag ‘coz he speaks good english.
What shitj is saying is the movie should have kept a little bit of seriousness instead of going for all out stupid. Like Office Space had that perfect balance.
This was also a comedy movie i saw in the middle of marthon independent films of 2007(FIND Screenings) which were all very serious & depresing. So it was a good break for me.