September 06, 2006
MIKE JUDGE'S NEW FILM
We don't usually review live action films on CARTOON BREW, but I just saw Mike Judge's latest feature film, IDIOCRACY, and had to comment. Not so much about the film—a hilarious and scathing satire on the "dumbing down of America"—but about the way 20th Century Fox has dumped it into a release without ads (OK, there was a small one in Friday's LA Times), no publicity, and no reviews (OK, the L.A. Times gave it a rave in Monday's paper, four days after its opening date).
The story concerns a government experiment that sends a boneheaded private and clueless prostitute 500 years into the future, where everything has been so dumbed down the soldier now finds himself the smartest person in the world. Water has been replaced by Gatorade and Starbucks sells sex and everyone has a UPC code tattooed to their wrists. It's a more accurate prediction of our future than anything Star Trek or H.G. Wells could imagine. And it's really funny.
I'm afraid, like THE SWEATBOX and CATS DON'T DANCE, that this film will be gone by Friday. If you're interested in laughing—a lot—go see it today or tomorrow before they pull it from release. I'm sure the film will end up, like Judge's first live action effort OFFICE SPACE, a cult item on DVD. But I, my wife and a friend had a great time with it last night on the big screen—and we highly recommend it.