Idiocracy (2006)
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THE SUMMARY: An army librarian and a prostitute with legal troubles are selected for a military experiment that will freeze people long-term, but they are accidentally awakened 500 years in the future to discover a dysgenic dystopia run by morons. I saw this movie near its release in 2006 and loved it, and I may have loved it more on the second watch 15 years later. It’s an unquestioned 5-wicky champion, and my favorite movie we have watched for the segment so far.
FROM MOVIE-PICKER MAD MURDOCK: Best prophetic documentary ever made. Hands down. Highly recommend.
The opening scene on parenthood
Plenty of ‘tards out there are livin’ really kickass lives!
THE BEST:
The opening scene about having kids is on point: It’s not just about recognizing that idiots reproduce successfully all the time, and it’s not just satire to laugh at. There is serious truth in the depiction of the educated couple who keep waiting for the perfect moment to have kids, but the perfect moment never comes, and so neither does their child (RIP dad for his valiant effort at the clinic).
Being on the other side of becoming a parent now, I see this much more clearly than I used to. There is no perfect moment, there is no perfect level of preparedness, there isn’t even a perfect wife or husband with whom to have kids - but you surely want to despite those imperfections, and you should be confident that you can do it despite them too. Missing your opportunity for parenthood is a far greater tragedy than a few obstacles to navigate within your parenthood.
‘Smart stupid,’ the best kind of comedy: This movie is exactly my type of humor, something you might call ‘smart stupid,’ I suppose - the idea being cleverly writing complete moron characters and dialogue. This movie is up there with the best to ever do it, at least that I’ve seen. I could highlight several of the scenes here: the battle with the Carl’s Jr. machine that leads to Joe’s arrest on the suspicion that he’s an unfit mom, Joe’s initial court hearing when he arrives in the future, his closing speech as new President where he’s giving everyone the finger, all classics - but nothing had me laughing harder than Joe’s consultation with his doctor played by Justin Long. ‘It says on your chart that you’re fucked up. You talk like a fag, and your shit’s all retarded.’ ‘Don’t worry bro - plenty of ‘tards out there are living really kickass lives!‘ ‘My first wife was ‘tarded - she’s a pilot now!’
On writing it out, maybe it doesn’t come off as well on paper that it does in the movie. Long’s delivery was excellent. He was an underrated actor in an underrated movie.
Even the smartest are still pretty dumb: It’s a tongue-in-cheek point in this movie that Joe is actually not that smart of a guy himself. He never understands that Rita is actually a whore. He actually believed that these idiots had a time machine, and could lead him to it and operate it, prompting Frito to say ‘for the smartest guy in the world, you’re pretty dumb sometimes.’
It comes off as just a joke in passing, but it’s a serious point to remember. Nobody is so smart that they’re right all the time. A genius in quantum physics might be totally incapable of fixing a leaky sink. Sure, some of us are more broadly capable and more broadly intelligent than others, but the point is we all make mistakes, and therefore we should be careful about any system of decision-making that puts everyone at the mercy of one person’s mistake. In our businesses, in our social circles, and certainly in our government.
I’m glad to know I was never a true leftist: This is a personal note rather than praise for the movie strictly, but it’s worth noting in evaluation of the change of my political perspective over time. This movie is full of slurs and hate-words that are now forbidden by the Hollywood elite and the inclusion mafia, yet I still loved it back in 2006 when I was a freshman sitting in the dorm of a liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. If I was the true progressive I thought I was, I should have been appalled by the language and themes of this movie, but I wasn’t. I’m glad to know I was never that close to shouting down offensive material TrigglyPuff-style.
THE WORST: I absolutely love this movie, so these are criticisms I could see someone having, not criticisms I hold. They are things to consider if you haven’t seen the movie and are thinking about watching it.
You have to tolerate toilet humor: Yes, this movie will subject you to an abbreviated screening of the movie ‘Ass,’ a battle between dildo cars, and numerous masturbation jokes (or ‘batin, as is the technical term in the movie). To me, all of these jokes are used to illustrate higher points of intelligence, but if the sound of a fart is not for you, perhaps this movie might not be either. In fairness, ‘Ass’ did win eight Oscars. And it might today too, as long as it’s a non-binary ass of color.
If you don’t get it by the name, you have to turn down the logic brain: I say that with full acknowledgement of my own propensity for and enjoyment of over-analyzing the internal logic of movies. It doesn’t make sense that this society can’t grow crops, but they’re all plenty well-fed, or that they can’t figure out basic agriculture but they can still build giant penis destruction cars for their ‘rehabilitation’ of criminals like Joe. What is Costco stocked with if even the most basic products can’t be produced? There’s plenty that doesn’t make sense in this movie, but if you stick to the broad themes and the jokes, it’s still incredibly well-written.
It was co-written by a leftist who thinks it describes everyone else and not him: Actually, two leftists who tried to resurrect the movie into anti-Trump political ads. Co-writer Etan Cohen tweeted about Donald Trump in February 2016, ‘I never expected Idiocracy to become a documentary.’ Of course that was 5+ years ago, but I wonder what he might say today about who is closer to actually tattooing barcodes on all of us for tracking purposes.
Unscannable!!!
THE RATING: 5/5 Wickies, with a bullet. My favorite movie so far.
YOUR RATING: Vote here ⬇
NEXT WEEK: John Wick (2014)
AFTER THAT? YOU PICK - VOTE! October’s nominations come from listener Mad Murdock!
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