Idiocracy (2006)

Private Joe Bauers, the definition of "average American", is selected by the Pentagon to be the guinea pig for a top-secret hibernation program. Forgotten, he awakes 500 years in the future. He discovers a society so incredibly dumbed-down that he's easily the most intelligent person alive.

Director:

Mike Judge

Writers:

Mike Judge (story), Mike Judge (screenplay),

Stars:

Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Luke Wilson	...	Joe Bauers
Maya Rudolph	...	Rita
Dax Shepard	...	Frito
Terry Crews	...	President Camacho (as Terry Alan Crews)
Anthony 'Citric' Campos	...	Secretary of Defense
David Herman	...	Secretary of State
Sonny Castillo	...	Prosecutor
Kevin McAfee	...	Bailiff (as Kevin S. McAfee)
Robert Musgrave	...	Sgt. Keller
Michael McCafferty	...	Officer Collins (as Mike McCafferty)
Christopher Ryan	...	Hospital Technician (as Ryan Melton)
Justin Long	...	Doctor
Heath Jones	...	Cop #1
Eli Muñoz	...	Horny Guy
Patrick Fischler	...	Yuppie Husband

Storyline

The purpose of the program set up by the Pentagon, called the "Human Hibernation Project," is designed so that the military can save their best men for when they're needed most. According to the officers heading the project, too many times the talents and expensive training of the best pilots and soldiers go to waste during times of peace. So they enlist Bauers (Wilson), the most under-achieving average guy they've got, to be the test subject for the initial hibernation experiment. Also participating in the top-secret program is Rita (Rudolph), a prostitute who agreed to take part in exchange for dropping some criminal charges against her, among other things. Of course, the experiment, which was to last only a year, goes under due to the arrest of Officer Collins, who is busted for heading a prostitution ring. Seeing as though he was in charge of the experiment, one of the only ones who knew of its existence, and "due to a lot of top-secret red tape... and the massive scandals and ...

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Plot Keywords:

hibernation | experiment | future | army | arrest | 

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Taglines:

The Future Is A No Brainer

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and sex-related humor

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 January 2007 (Germany)

Also Known As:

3001

Filming Locations:

Austin Convention Center - 500 E. Cesar Chavez Street, Austin, Texas, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$177,559 (USA) (1 September 2006)

Gross:

$438,653 (USA) (29 September 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Ternion Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby DTS (as dts)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The very small Surgeon General's warning seen on the Tarrylton's Cigarettes billboard reads: "Warning: The Surgeon General has one lung and a voicebox but he could still kick your sorry ass".

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Goofs

During Monday Night Rehabilitation, the "assdozer" tries to drive through the tunnel, but is too big. When it plows into the wall, a man is at the entrance of the tunnel. When the wall collapses, a second man appears at the bottom next to the first man. The first man runs out of the way, but the second man is crushed underneath the debris.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: As the 21st century began, human evolution was at a turning point. Natural selection, the process by which the strongest, the smartest, the fastest, reproduced in greater numbers than the rest, a process which had once favored the noblest traits of man, now began to favor different traits. Most science fiction of the day predicted a future that was more civilized and more intelligent. But as time went on, things seemed to be heading in the opposite direction. A dumbing down. How ...

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Crazy Credits

A note near the end of the credits says "This film was also cut entirely on a computer".

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Connections

References WWE Smackdown! (1999)

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Soundtracks

"Nitty Gritty"
(1973)
Written and Performed by Doug Sahm
Courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corp.
By Arrangement with Warner Strategic Marketing

User Reviews

Iddiocracy - Two D's for a double dose of comedy

This movie was quite a pleasant surprise. I had anticipated it for a long time, and was afraid going in that it couldn't possibly live up to my expectations.

It exceeded them.

I adored this movie.

Hilarious from start to finish (stay until after the end credits!), it is absolutely remarkable how a movie about dumb and annoying characters can be so intelligent, witty, and engaging.

With it's obvious matte paintings, the movie's future Earth recalls the Planet of the Apes series and other Sci-Fi movies of that era.

In fact, this movie is essentially Planet of the Apes, but with people who are the mental equivalent of apes.

It moves at a fairly brisk pace, and Luke Wilson carries the movie quite well, with a character that recalls the one he played in "Bottle Rocket." (There's even a not-so-subtle nod to "Bottle Rocket" in an early scene).

Maya Rudoulph is also surprisingly good as a former "painter" who was frozen as well.

Despite all its strengths, "Idiocracy" has the distinct feel of a movie that was taken away from the director/editor before it could be fine-tuned.

I cannot for the life of me understand why a movie this funny would just be dumped into a few theaters with no advanced screenings, no trailers, no marketing whatsoever.

It's as if the studio decided they were not going to spend any more on it and just walked away.

Or maybe they thought the movie had the makings of a cult classic, and the only way for it to become a true cult classic was to set it up to fail?

Whatever the case, it is a shame, because Mike Judge and this film in particular deserve better.

I predict this movie will have real legs on DVD, and word of mouth will propel it to the success it deserves.

Perhaps the Fox Executives saw themselves in the characters, were confused, and thought it was a documentary?