Idiocracy is Mike Judge’s follow up to the under-marketed and thus cult DVD hit Office Space. In many ways Idiocracy shares Office Space’s occasional flashes of brilliance padded around a dullish romantic central point, and is never quite as cutting or satirical as it might be. Which isn’t to say that the high concept of the film (humanity receding into stupidity because only stupid people are breeding) does not allow for plenty of great jokes. Unfortunately Luke Wilson yet again shows that his squishy nosed brother got all the charisma genes, and that 20th Century Fox have no balls in dumping a film which, whilst may only be mediocre, is mediocre with some really great art design.
This is about the biggest picture that can be found on the web, which is a pity cos the film could really do with a coffee table book. And this is just a throwaway joke. The general scenes are simple street settings with lots of day-glo advertising and litter around (as befits a culture which does not know what to do with its rubbish). But the film eschews typical futuristic trappings along with its second hand Ridley Scott look, with what few skyscrapers remain standing lashed together with giant bits of rope, or toppling akin to dominoes. This picture is tiny, but gives an idea of the gigantic Costco which dominates the landscape.
What is nice about the art is that it looks like proper matte paintings, rather than overly elaborate computer effects (one assumes that a mixture might have been done, but the static grandeur of these bits are more reminiscent of good mattes). The film is not great, but certainly isn’t bad, and I feel a little robbed that I did not get to see some of these terrific views on a big screen. Perhaps that makes up for not seeing a man being kicked in the balls repeatedly on a big screen, but not quite. (This takes place in futuristic entertainment, Ow, My Balls by the way.)