I just happened to be down in Texas this past week, which gave me a rare chance to see Mike Judge's latest film in its "super-limited release" by 20th Century Fox. Long story made short, the creator of Beavis & Butthead, Office Space and King of the Hill made this in 2004 ... preview audiences pooh-poohed it, some re-shooting was done a year later, and since then Fox has had a terrible time coming up with an ad campaign angle for it. Focus and test groups have responded negatively to various approaches. (Fox has never heard of "word of mouth," and is apparently forgetting how Office Space became a cult hit in second run and home video releases.) So, presumably to satisfy contractual issues, they're releasing it in about 130 theaters, in only 7 cities. Most in Texas (where Judge lives). No advance adverts, no newspaper ads,... nothing. You pretty much have to trip over it by accident, or catch buzz of it on the grapevine.
The question is obvious: is it a stinker, or just so outside-the-box that a conventional, studio release can't be done? My answer: a little of both. I won't spoil the plot (you can read it on Amazon or Yahoo or IMDb) for you.
Some of the humor is gross, but it suits the story in which reverse natural selection (influenced by corporate and media interests, dumbing down the populace to a double-digit IQ standard) has made mankind a pack of shuffling, scatological morons. Much of Judge's satire is amazingly on target. This IS the guy whose modest workplace comedy became a mythic anthem to office workers everywhere who agreed that "work sucks." The motifs in OFFICE SPACE have spawned dozens of derivative works. The same may not play out here, but the wit and social commentary in IDIOCRACY is just as fresh.
The production values are terrific. Though clearly shot on a budget, the film ably depicts a future dystopic America, where various crises and inaction have left the country a garbage strewn slum, a claustrophobic cage of advertising, discarded packaging, thoughtless automated vending machines, and decadence. I was repeatedly wishing I could freeze-frame the images and focus on the background details ... which clearly were as funny as what was in foreground focus.
Clearly, the film needs re-editing. It drags in spots. It shifts back to the bookend, mock-documentary narration at odd transitions, sometimes just summarizing a scene that isn't moving fast enough. Yeah, very clunky. The narration gives the whole film a distance from the lead character that saps energy. When you ought to be in his skin, seeing "Uh-merica" in 2505 through his eyes, the narration has you standing in a lab smock, watching this pilgrim's progress through a telescope. Portions of the script come across as a first draft, so fresh and candid that it wasn't subjected to needed rewrites to polish the "jewels in the rough." That Judge crafted a non-stop comedy that is essentially apocalyptic sci-fi tragedy dressed up with wit and gags, is impressive. Animal House crossed with Soylent Green, if that makes sense. Office Space was unassuming, but close analysis of it yields a deep well of mythic parody and commentary on modern life. (Well, *I* think so. ;) ) If Hollywood execs expected more of the same, he failed. If they wanted him to up the ante, it would seem that he DID. He just didn't do it in the direction they wanted.
It's not playing in your town unless you live in one of the seven Fox contracted for. Maybe letters or phone calls to local theaters, or letters to Fox directly, could remedy that. But most likely, you'll be seeing this on DVD within 6-8 months. Hopefully the disc will include bonus production info and deleted scenes that provide insight into this slightly flawed masterwork.
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