Idiocracy was not a hit when it was first released
Mike Judge is the genius who created
Beavis & Butthead,
King of the Hill and
Silicon Valley.
Yet despite that track record on TV, his movies have not had that much luck at the box office.
His first live-action movie,
Office Space, is now regarded as a brilliant satire on work life – but it was barely released in 1999.
His next film, 2006’s
Idiocracy, which airs on Film4 at 11.15pm on Sunday, was practically buried by Fox, only opening on seven screens across the US. But now it looks like an eerily precedent work, that foretold our current political situation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clYwX8Z43zg
It stars Luke Wilson as an average joe who takes part in a military hibernation experiment, only to wake up 500 years in the future. It is an age where stupidity and anti-intellectualism have taken over, and crass commercialism runs everything. And Wilson’s character is now the smartest man in the world.
The President in this worryingly-recognisable future is Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho (played by
Brooklyn Nine Nine’s Terry Crews) – a slow-witted wrestler turned politician, who both
Collider and
Salon have compared to WWE Hall of Famer Donald Trump.
Here is President Camacho in action.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGUNPMPrxvA
When asked about the Trump comparisons, Mike Judge told
Time "I'm no prophet, I was off by 490 years."
It is a hilarious movie – as long as you don’t find it too scary.
Idiocracy is on Film4 at 11.15pm tonight.
