Idiocracy is an American satirical science fiction comedy film directed by Mike Judge and starring Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, and Terry Crews. The film tells the story of two ordinary people from the present who take part in a top-secret military hibernation experiment, only to awaken 500 years in the future in a dystopian society full of extremely stupid people. Advertising, commercialism, and cultural anti-intellectualism have run rampant and dysgenic pressure has resulted in a uniformly unthinking society devoid of intellectual curiosity, social responsibility, and coherent notions of justice and human rights.
About the Story
A U.S. Army librarian, Corporal Joe Bauers (Luke Wilson), and a prostitute, Rita (Maya Rudolph), are selected for a suspended animation experiment which is supposed to last one year. Joe is average in every way, hence his selection, and Rita’s pimp, “Upgrayedd” (Brad Jordan), has been bribed to allow her to take part. The experiment is forgotten when the officer in charge (Michael McCafferty) is arrested.
Five hundred years later, when the average IQ has dropped drastically, Joe and Rita’s suspension chambers are unearthed by the collapse of a mountain-sized garbage pile. Joe’s suspension chamber smashes through the wall of Frito Pendejo’s (Dax Shepard) apartment. Frito throws him out.
Joe, thinking all the unfamiliar sights are the result of a suspended animation hangover, makes his way to a hospital. The former Washington, D.C. has lost most of its infrastructure, with people living in plastic huts called “domistile”. The human population has become morbidly stupid, speak only low registers of English competently and are profoundly anti-intellectual. Joe is arrested for not having a bar code tattoo to pay for his doctor’s appointment, only then realizing the current year and society’s state. At Joe’s trial, Frito, still angry about his ruined apartment, turns out to be his lawyer, and his inept representation causes Joe to be sent to prison. Rita returns to her former profession and realizes that in the future, her job is much easier.
Joe is renamed “Not Sure” by a faulty identity tattooing machine, and takes an IQ test before outsmarting the prison guards and escaping. Joe returns to Frito’s apartment to ask him if a time machine exists to help him return to 2005. Frito claims to know of one, but agrees to help only after Joe promises to open a bank account under Frito’s name in Joe’s time, which will be worth billions by 2505. On the way to find the time machine, Joe and Frito find Rita.
Idiocracy
Starring: Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, David Herman, Sara Rue, Justin Long
Directed by: Mike Judge
Screenplay by: Etan Cohen
Release: September 1, 2006
MPAA Rating: R for language and sex-related humor.
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Box Office Totals
Domestic: $444,093 (91.5%)
Foreign: $41,106 (8.5%)
Total: $485,199 (Worldwide)