Idiocracy

Directed by Mike Judge, Idiocracy follows Luke Wilson’s Joe Bauers as he signs up for a top-secret hibernation program and accidentally left froze for over 500 years – with the narrative detailing the character’s exploits within a seriously dumbed-down future society. It’s an unabashedly larger-than-life setup that’s employed to entertaining yet disappointingly erratic effect by Judge, and it’s clear, ultimately, that Idiocracy fares best in a silly, fish-out-of-water opening stretch that boasts a number of memorable (and hilarious) encounters and interludes – with this particularly true of Joe’s visit with Justin Long’s far-from-qualified physician. The mostly affable atmosphere is perpetuated and heightened by Wilson’s predictably charming turn as the easygoing protagonist, with the picture also benefiting from the uniformly agreeable efforts of an eclectic supporting cast that includes Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, and Terry Crews. (It doesn’t hurt, either, that screenwriters Judge and Etan Cohen have packed the proceedings with a number of satirical, almost prescient tidbits relating to the moron-friendly future.) There’s little doubt, then, that Idiocracy‘s hit-and-miss midsection and somewhat anticlimactic third act prevent it from becoming the consistent, engrossing comedy one might’ve anticipated, as Judge, to a progressively pronounced degree, is unable to maintain the loose, freewheeling bent of the movie’s briskly-paced first half – which does, in the end, cement its place as a watchable piece of work that could (and should) be so much better.

**1/2 out of ****