Tuesday, January 9

Ow! My Balls!

I watched Mike Judge's ("Beavis and Butthead", "King of the Hill", "Office Space") latest film, "Idiocracy" the other night.  The movie was completed in 2004, but the studio basically abandoned it and chose not to promote or distribute it in any meaningful way.  Apparently, it was released only in seven cities, three of them in Texas, none in New York.
First off, I can understand if someone watched this movie and hated it.  I laughed way more than I thought I would, and I quite enjoyed it.  It's got some down-time moments, and there are scenes that don't quite work, but I suspect some of that may have been a result of Judge not getting money from the studio to polish those scenes.
Luke Wilson plays an average guy who is hibernated for 500 years (Maya Rudolph plays his average female co-hibernator).  They wake up in the year 2505.  In the interim, the population of the world has been totally dumbed down.  Imagine a world where the height of culture is a TV show called "Ow! My Balls!".  Idiocy, crass commercialism, and instant gratification rule the day and everyone is a moron.  So, compartively speaking, Wilson's character is seen as the smartest person in the world.  He has trouble fitting in, though, since language has devolved to such a state that someone who speaks even semi-coherently is considered "faggy".  Wilson is terrific, and Rudolph avoids playing herself as an SNL character and plays it straight and effectively.  There are also some terrific performances by others in the cast who are playing the idiots.
I was pleasantly surprised by this movie.  Grateful for the laughs it gave me, I was able to look beyond the few trouble spots it has.  Definitely a comedy worth searching out.


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3 comments:

graham putnam said...

Agreed. This one totally went under the radar. There are some soft moments as you stated, but I've seen it a couple times now, and I like most of it. Maya Rudolph is my new wife in my castle in the clouds. Wilson was great, and the more I watch it, the more I really like Dax Shephard's character, Frito.
Not sure why it was swept under the carpet.... I guess it's anti-fox, and points out some of the flaws of western culture, but so do lots of movies.

Tim said...

Watched this movie the other night as well. I loved it. Possibly because my expectations were pretty low to begin with. I love that in the movie that "ass" is the top box office movie, while "Jackass 2" is currently a top renter... Makes a real statement. Schools are no longer failing kids, tv reality shows are getting stranger and more graphic, and "ow my balls" is not that far removed from "America's funniest home videos".... hmmmm

Marc Haines said...

If anyone doesn't watch the first five minutes of this film and not get really scared, come spend a week in Texas. This was one of the most prophetic movies I have seen in a long time. Hey, I just got a handjob at Starbucks last week...