The Filter Is Broke

I saw the movie Idiocracy last night, the limited-release-in-the-theatres-pretty-much-straight- to-DVD-movie by Mike Judge the director and writer of Office Space. If you don't know by now, the movie focuses on an army guy (Luke Wilson) who gets frozen for what is supposed to be a year. Well, the freeze chamber doesn't get opened for more like 100 years and when he comes out of it, he has discovered that the world is stupid. It is stupid because it has been the dumb people who have survived because the smart ones did not reproduce like they should have. So the movie is about how Luke Wilson, a pretty average guy, is suddenly the smartest man in the world.

There were a couple of parts that stood out to me. First, the opening that explains how the world got dumber is very good. And little bits here and there throughout the movie to show the slow dumbing of America. The burger place Fuddruckers changes to Buttruckers and to eventually Butt Fuckers. A favorite TV show is all about a guy getting repeatedly kicked in the nuts. And the movie that won 8 Oscars that year was titled ASS and all it showed for two hours was a guy's ass.

So that raises the question and the point of this post... do I think the movie was good enough to have gotten a better release in the theatres. The answer is that if movies like The Benchwarmers or more recently Epic Movie are going to get a wide release, then why not this movie?

Or let me phrase this a different way. How come the turd known as The Benchwarmers gets a large release and this movie pretty much goes straight to DVD? I think if you watch the movie Idiocracy you'll know the answer. The problem is that Hollywood thinks that people would rather watch Jon Heder pick his boogers and eat them than watch a genuinely funny movie that involves original thought.

So do I think Idiocracy is a great comedy and a solid follow-up to Office Space? Not really. But do I think it's loads better than The Benchwarmers. You're goddamn right.

The filter is broken in Hollywood. Somebody call a technician.