You're Not Supposed To Watch This Movie ...

“Idiocracy,” Mike Judge’s first live-action feature since cult classic “Office Space” (1999), was released to DVD on January 9. It’s now gaining momentum as The Film That Fox Didn’t Want You To See, proving that the harder a bureaucracy tries to hide something, the more the populace wants to see it (it grossed $8.2 million in rentals in its first month of availability). After all, any publicity is good publicity. Well, except for Britney.

Without giving too much of the film away, here goes … Private Joe Bowers (Luke Wilson) is your quintessential Average Joe, and since he has no family or prospects, he is selected as the guinea pig for a secret military project, along with a hooker named Rita (Maya Rudolph). When the hibernation experiment goes awry and the test subjects wake up 500 years in the future instead of just one, hilarity ensues.

This movie has some very clever explanations for the regressive dumbing down of America, based mostly on trailer park dwellers reproducing like bunnies while yuppies sacrifice parenthood for careers … resulting in the lowest common denominator eventually ruling the world. That’s just one of the reasons why Joe and Rita wake up to a country that has a House of Representin’, a President who is a champion wrestler, a Starbucks that doles out sexual acts and a Cabinet that is sponsored by Carl’s, Jr. (new tag line? “F$#k you! I’m eating!”), plus has seen the de-evolution of Fuddrucker’s into Buttf&^@*ers.

The film’s distributor, 20th Century Fox, dropped the movie to a limited release, based mostly on the movie’s sarcastic criticism and depiction of Fox News and the media in general. The flick – originally titled “The United States of Uhh-merica” – also rails against corporate America and consumerism, fueling speculation that Fox (here’s a searing condemnation of the network) didn’t want to anger current and potential advertisers.

As a result, any success the movie might enjoy will likely have to come in the underground, cult level, but it is certainly worth checking out. Even if you don’t appreciate the in-your-face irony and satire, there are more than enough easy laughs to go around.