Monday, January 29, 2007

REVIEW: Idiocracy


" ...I lik mony"

Ovr at Al Fin's sight I was introdoosed to the funyest moovy I hav evr sien in a long tim. It made me laff, it made me cri. I wil nevr look at Fudruckers or Starbucks the saim waay agin. U neid to cee this moovy two!





Starring Luke Wilson (the better half of the Wilson acting duo of Owen and Luke) it is mad cap look at the future of our society 500 years into the future. Strangely, this movie never saw a theatrical release. It went straight to DVD well over a year after it was filmed. After seeing it I still don't know who might have been offended other than the stereotypical denizens of mobile home parks. (Perhaps Fudruckers and Starbucks might have had a problem with it???).

The Premise:
In the year 2005 a super secret military project goes awry when Wilson and a street walker are chosen to undergo a sort of cryogenic deep freeze. Before the year is up the program gets canceled and our two hero's wind up in a landfill where the sit for 500 years.

In the future mankind has become increasingly stupid for reasons detailed in a funny, yet telling scene. The couple with the high IQ's wait and wait until everything is just perfect in their lives before even considering having a child (of course the time never comes). Simultaneously on the seedier side of town a complete uneducated moron is sticking his you-know-what in every woman who can boast to be his intellectual equal. Now extrapolate that out over 2000 generations and you get the picture.

That's where the fun begins. I won't go into anymore detail and spoil your fun other than to say that when the painfully average pair from 21st century emerge from their "coffins" following the great landfill avalanche of 2505 they are the smartest people on Earth - by a long shot.

What is so amazing about this movie is the sheer plausibility of it. The signs are everywhere. Al Fin has been doing a series of excellent posts on the education of our youth and the falling average IQ rates in the world. We can't deny that we are having more done for - and expecting less from - children, young adults and even ourselves. Just try taking an eighth grade test from the turn of the 20th century before trying to convince yourself you are smarter than those who lived a hundred years ago.

If you need anymore convincing just rent Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby the next day...

I ressed mi kase!




CW

1 comment:

al fin said...

Idiocracy has the look of a cult classic. It may even be something of a Trojan Horse. Kids will like it for the dumb jokes. But they'll probably get more from it than they are aware of.