Rumor has it that Fox, after reviewing the final cut of this film, tossed it directly in the Direct to DVD bin. In this case, that turned out to be a win-win. Fox gets to avoid some responsibility of a rediculously executed movie and Mike Judge gets a cult classic -- which are so often, and deliciously, rediculously executed.
What Mike has done is take all of those Darwin urban myth legends, of stupid people doing unbelievaby stupid things, and turned it into a movie about the future where everybody is that stupid. With the exception of an extremely "average soldier" and a prostitute who have both been transplated into this low IQ era. Consequently, they are now the smartest people on the planet.
Despite the movie's title, Judge should have eased up on the opaque Beavis and Butt Head humor in favor of the more sophisticated humor that we find in King of the Hill. "Smart people", wherever they are, have the capacity to pick up on subtle gags, which this movie would have benefited from. Instead, the movie is pushed and pulled along by a narrator who explains every joke. For instance, one scence depicts a jam packed theater where everyone is entertained by a full feature length movie of a person's ass. This brilliant scene didn't require a narrator, but we get one anyway. I think most of us would have got the joke. Those who would miss it, in abscence of a narrative, are probably the joke's target.
Having said that, the premise of Idiocracy is so strong that it more than makes up for all of its weaker points. I didn't laugh nearly as much as I should have, but I smiled in agreement with Judge's judgment on society. I just wish he hadn't dumbed down his own movie about our dumb and dumber society.
