Everyone has that one movie that everybody seems to have seen, except for you. For my colleague, Riley Utley, it was Jaws, and for me, it’s Mike Judge’s 2006 cult classic, Idiocracy.
Now, I already know what you’re thinking: Idiocracy is no Jaws, and you’re right. I’ve personally seen Jaws more times than I can count, as several people have. Inversely, Idiocracy is a much smaller film. However, the kinds of people I talk to have all seen it, and I felt like I was the only person who hadn’t.
Well, I rectified that recently since it’s currently available with my Netflix subscription. Get this: I even think it’s better than my previous favorite Mike Judge film, Office Space. There are several reasons why I feel this way. Here are just a few.
Firstly, I Could Sadly Relate More With Idiocracy Than I Could With Office Space
Now, don’t let the title of this article fool you. I LOVE Office Space. Outside of the original This Is Spinal Tap, I think it might be the funniest movie I’ve ever seen. Just everything about it, from the other Michael Bolton thinking the singer is a “no-talent ass clown,” to the destruction of the printer scene, to Milton constantly threatening to burn down the building, I think Office Space pretty much has the most hilarious moments per minute out of any movie I’ve ever seen.
Yet, I could never really relate to it. I’ve never personally been an office drone stuck behind a cubicle. I’ve never been bothered to come in on weekends, nor have I had to experience being moved to the basement in order to make room for somebody else. All of this stuff was hilarious, sure, but I laughed at it even though it was as much a fantasy to me as The Avengers .
That said, Idiocracy, even as outlandish as it is, is a lot more relatable to me. It’s the story of an average private in the military (Luke Wilson) who gets put into a hibernation chamber that’s only supposed to last a year, but due to circumstances, ends up lasting 500 years. When he wakes up, he finds that society has dumbed down to the point where everybody is a mouth-breather, and all of America is pretty much one enormous landfill.
And man, oh man. I get this. I’m no genius, but anti-intellectualism is something that I encounter all of the time, and a part of me feels like we’re already currently living through Idiocacy, which I’ll get into next.
Office Space Is Ridiculous, But Idiocracy Takes It To The Extreme
Office Space opens with one of my favorite scenes. People are stuck in traffic, and they’re already tired, even before they get to work. That, I get. But, do you know what I get even more? People who don’t do any research whatsoever, but still say things with 100% certainty. Not only that, but they’ll even call you an idiot (or even worse, the “R word”) if you challenge them. I literally experience this every single day.
Idiocracy toys with that idea to the extreme. The whole reason why there are so many feeble-minded people in the future in this film is because the uneducated have had too many children, while the highly educated stopped having children. This creates a country full of ignorance, and this movie pushes that idea beyond measure.
For example, a major plot point is that people have substituted water for some energy drink called Brawndo, and they’re watering the crops with it. When our hero tries to tell the people that plants need water, not energy drinks, they shoot his idea down and keep repeating the drink’s slogan, which is, “Brawdo’s got what plants crave. It’s got electrolytes!” When the protagonist asks what electrolytes even are, they just stare at him, dumbfounded, and repeat the slogan again.
Which feels all too real. Yes, the future presented in this film is a tad extreme, but it really doesn’t feel as far-fetched as it likely did back in 2006. The internet existed back then, sure, but in its fairly rudimentary state, I don’t know if Mike Judge could have foreseen just how prophetic his movie actually was, which is sad, but also kind of hilarious.
Terry Crews As The President Might Just Be My Favorite Mike Judge Character Of All Time
Another reason why I adore Office Space is all of the zany characters. Ron Livingtson plays the perfect straight man to all of the other outlandish characters in the office, such as Bill Lumbergh, Samir Nagheenanajar, and of course, Milton. They’re all really memorable, and every character has at least one great line in the film. They also all make me glad that I don’t work in the corporate world.
Jokes aside, there isn’t a single character who can match the energy, intensity, and presence of Terry Crews as President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho in Idiocracy. Crews, who has actually come a long way from his NFL days, probably gives the best performance of his career in this movie. President Camacho is both endearing, with his beer swilling, motorcycle-riding ways, but also kind of terrifying at the same time.
This is a President who will make you a member of his cabinet one minute, and then will say that you have a single week to heal the world, or you’ll be thrown in jail the next. This is a man who can wear an American flag jacket, and make it look like an actual uniform. In other words, he’s a bombastic maniac, and you love every second that he’s on the screen.
Crews just makes it work. I always knew he was talented, but Idiocracy is the movie that truly made me a believer.
Lastly, Idiocracy Will Still Likely Feel Relevant Even Years From Now, Whereas Office Space Still Feels Of That Era
I kind of alluded to this earlier, but I truly feel like Idiocracy will feel more and more relevant the further we go down the line than Office Space ever could. In a lot of ways, Office Space, which came out in the golden year of 1999 like other modern classics like The Matrix, felt kind of stuck in time, even back then.
I think a lot of this was intentional. To my understanding, it was supposed to represent the dead end feeling of wasting your life in a corporation that viewed people as expendable, and wasn’t really trying to be forward thinking. I mean, really. How forward thinking can you be when you’re stuck at a dead end job? Idiocracy, however, will always feel like we’re dangerously heading down that route.
Especially with everybody relying so heavily on A.I. these days. In a sense, it almost feels like people are willingly allowing A.I. to take over, which kind of spells disaster if humankind stops deciding to think for themselves and just lets A.I. do all the thinking for them. The film doesn’t go down that route, plot-wise, it does present a future where people have given up the desire to learn if they don’t have to, which is scary, to say the very least.
What do you think? Have you seen Idiocracy? If so, I’d love to hear your thoughts!