I have a feeling this will actually be pretty funny, but unfortunately I cant see it.
http://www.austin360.com/movies/content/movies/stories/2006/09/1idiocracy.html Mike Judge's new Austin comedy finally sees the light of day, if minimally
By Chris Garcia
AMERICAN-STATESMAN FILM WRITER
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Can it really be that bad?
Fox Studios seems to think so. It's been sitting on Mike Judge's comedy "Idiocracy" for almost two years, allowing no one to see it, not even reviewers, finally releasing it Friday, September 1, in a piddling seven cities â?? Austin, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and Toronto â?? with no plans to open it wider. Not even New York will get to see the latest from the Austin creator of "Office Space" and television's "Beavis and Butt-head" and "King of the Hill."
In the new movie, Luke Wilson plays Army Pvt. Joe Bowers, who has been put in deep-freeze hibernation as part of an Army experiment. Things go awry and Bowers doesn't wake up for 500 years. America has changed for the worse, becoming so dumbed-down that this average Joe stands out as the smartest person in the world. (Imagine drawling, laid-back Luke Wilson as the smartest guy in the world. There's a punch line.) Maya Rudolph, Justin Long and Stephen Root and David Herman of "Office Space" co-star.
A large, worried cloud started hanging over the finished film in late 2004, several months after it was shot at Austin Studios with a considerable number of local crew and extras. Fan mumblings grew into unofficial rumors, culminating last month with a report on MTV.com that the film's release had been postponed indefinitely.
Fans of Judge's irreverent humor, particularly his 1998 satire of corporate culture "Office Space," went into cyber-fits. But none of their alternately puzzled and apoplectic Web postings shed light on what was delaying "Idiocracy's" release.
Calls to Judge's assistant, his manager and Fox last week yielded little insight. We learned that Fox is doing zero marketing for the movie â?? no trailers, posters, television spots or even press kits for media outlets. In response to the snub, Judge is refusing to publicize the movie and wouldn't speak to us. Someone close to Judge grumbled, "Fox dumped the film."
A Fox representative disagreed with that. The handling of the movie "was an executive decision from the chairman," she said. "It's not that we are treating the film coldly."
Asked why there is no marketing, no previews and only a limited release, she repeated, "It was an executive decision." That's all she had to say.
It sounds like deja-boo. Fox famously underestimated "Office Space," putting wimpy marketing muscle behind it. Despite good reviews, the comedy tanked in its theatrical run, only to explode as a major cult hit on video, DVD and cable.
"'Idiocracy' was supposed to be different," writes Brian Raferty in the June issue of Esquire magazine, in an article exploring Judge's travails with Hollywood. "He filmed it two years ago, but once photography was finished, the real problems began: So-and-so executive hasn't had a chance to see it, so everything was put on hold. Then Fox started nickel-and-diming him over a few special-effects costs. Finally, once the movie was totally finished last fall, Judge and the execs started to butt heads over the marketing, especially the trailers."
"I've never experienced anything like this," Judge told Raferty.
If anyone would know what's going on with "Idiocracy," Hollywood snoop Harry Knowles would. But the captain of Ain't It Cool News didn't return our calls. Still, one of Knowles' critic minions who goes by Quint posted this on the site: "I've heard it's crazy-insane funny, and I've heard it is very flawed, even hard to sit through."
And someone who claims to have seen "Idiocracy" during the film's post-production wrote a mini-review on The Internet Movie Database (imdb.com). Titled "Not close to 'Office Space'!," the July 31 posting reads in part:
"There was so much bathroom humor, I wondered why they didn't say it was more like 'Beavis and Butt-head,' because the movie will obviously appeal more to a less-mature audience. I did enjoy it. At times I was laughing myself to tears. I just don't think that this film was up to par with what Judge is truly capable of. . . . I was just hoping it to be a film I would like to see more than once."
But "Idiocracy" co-star Terry Crews, who plays the president of the United States, had a good feeling after the film wrapped in July 2004. Though he hadn't seen the finished product, Crews told the American-Statesman, "It's really, really funny the way things go down. Believe me."
