Review of Idiocracy (2006) by Van R — 26 May 2010

"Idiocracy" qualifies as a lowest common denominator bowel comedy about time travel. This movie is hopeless hilarious from start to finish with loads of inspired sight gags. Luke Wilson gives a mild-mannered performance. Indeed, this is the only performance that he could have given because it makes his character not only sympathetic, but also he behaves as if he isn't in a comedy. Terry Crews is insanely funny as the futuristic Obama president.

In this rude, crude, and politically incorrect yarn, slacker U.S. Army private Joe Bowers (Luke Wilson of "Charlie's Angels") and a hooker, Rita (Maya Randolph of "Saturday Night Live") are put into suspended animation and accidentally wind up being sent 500 years into the future as part of a top-secret military hibernation experiment. They arrive in the future and are released from their caskets as a result of a huge garbage avalanche and discover a society where the dumbest have procreated in such huge numbers that human evolution has degenerated to the point that everybody is a imbecile. Indeed, numbskulls proliferate, and an African-American wrestler, President Camacho (Terry Crews of "White Chicks") the Ultimate Fighting champion, reigns as the President of the United States. There is a restaurant chain named Buttf@#kers.

Society has degenerated to the point that mindless television programming and rampant consumerism rule the airwaves. The favorite TV reality show is called "Own, My Balls," where guys get kicked in the gonads. There is also the Masturbation Network. The Best Picture of 2505 is a film entitled "Ass," and all it shows is a giant close-up of a naked, flatulent, male butt for 90 minutes. In a brilliant sight gag, a carnival ride time machine display takes citizens on a journey through the 20 Century and they learn that Charlie Chaplin and the Nazis tried to rule the world. There a Museum of Fart where people tour a number of displays depicting various eras of time and they get to press a huge red button that sounds various kinds of farts.

Nobody drinks water in the year 2505, and a Gatorade knock-off sports energy drink called "Brawndo" has become the number one employer in America and the number one beverage because it contains electrolytes. "Brawndo" looks like green radiator fluid. Nobody knows what purpose electrolytes serve, but they've been told it is good for them. Following this lack of logic, farmers rely exclusively on "Brawndo: to irrigate crops. Consequently, nothing grows anymore, and America has turned into a dustbowl of devastation. Not long after Private Bowers arrives, he is put in prison. During a tattooing session, which is a social requirement along with a special I.D. system, he ends up with the unlikely name of Not Sure because he isn't sure what to say to the machine that registers his citizenship.

Eventually, Joe escapes from private, but the authorities recapture him. They discover that Bowers has the highest I.Q. in America; Bowers took an I.Q. test before he started serving time. The President makes Bowers the Secretary of the Interior and promises him a presidential pardon if he can solve their food crisis. Nobody believes Bowers when he explains that "Brawndo" has saturated the top soil with so much salt that nothing will grow. When he recommends that they revert to water for irrigate their crops, they react with puzzled expressions and say, "You mean like water from the toilet?" Bowers' recommendation is the right step for the future, but hysteria erupts and "Brawndo" has to lay off thousands of workers. They storm the White House and Bowers finds himself on trial. His sentence is one night of rehabilitation. Initially, this doesn't augur ill for our protagonist until he realizes that he will be thrown in a huge coliseum before thousands of spectators and must face two souped-up "Mad Max" type vehicles that resemble giant sex toys on wheels. Our hero has his ankle chained to a huge rock. Meanwhile, the heroine Rita struggles to help him by sending a guy with a camera out to shoot video of a field that has become to spout vegetation.

"Beavis & Butthead" creator Mike Judge and "King of the Hill" scripter Etan Cohen co-wrote this outrageous satire about a dystopian vision of a moronic America of the future where most technology has broken down. It is hilarious with lots of profanity.