Reverse Idiocracy

I didn't expect I'd have the occasion to write about Idiocracy again so soon after my recent May viewing.

But the anti-maskers -- note the similarity in that name to anti-vaxxers -- have made it so.

Of the many ways I have disagreed with the people in the MAGA crowd in the last four years, and especially in the last four months, the unwillingness to wear a mask is the one I want to talk about today. (I was going to say "the sharpest and most absurd," but truly, I consider it to be a sharper disagreement between us, and a more absurd thing to disagree about, that they hate black people.)

I should start by saying that I don't wear a mask, either. But I live in Australia, where maybe only one in 30 people can be seen wearing a mask. We just don't have coronavirus here like you do in America.

That said, when my wife diligently responded to having a sore throat by getting a COVID test, we made sure to isolate ourselves while awaiting the result. (She was negative.) And in fact, before she had a test and was just mulling over the idea, I did wear a basic surgical mask to the supermarket, as a means of protecting others from a contamination with which I might infect them.

If we lived in the U.S., we'd be wearing masks as a matter of course. We'd probably have some bespoke designer masks that we had acquired somewhere along the way these past four months.

Some people will not wear masks. They're largely of the MAGA persuasion, but not all. They don't care if they get coronavirus or give it to someone else.

Their reasoning, it appears, is that it is a restriction on their rights. That's what the sign above would indicate, but in this case, the whole "my body/my choice" argument is extremely hypocritical, if we are going to take it one step further and assume that the person carrying this sign is anti-abortion -- as the pro choice movement is, of course, where that phrasing originated. I should say, this person could be both pro choice and anti-mask -- again, trying not to make any more assumptions than necessary on who believes what.

The reason they seem to feel it infringes on their rights, though, is that they feel like a mask means you are hiding something. That's what I suspect, anyway. Whether that thing you're hiding is your own infection -- in which case, you aren't really "hiding" it, but rather, graciously trying to protect others from it -- or some secret agenda to overthrow the government -- the federal government now being something conservatives apparently support -- it's not clear. It's just that with a mask on, you can't be trusted. It's like what they used to say about people who grew beards.

One of the most absurd examples of this was when some conservative dickhead tweeted a photo of Joe Biden wearing a mask, as if the mere image were self-evidently ridiculous and/or untrustworthy. Biden was also wearing sunglasses in that shot, taking the level of "deception" one step further.

I don't actually really want to debate this issue in this post. And yes, I'm getting to the part that relates to movies.

Mike Judge's great 2006 satire, Idiocracy, presupposes that liberals who think too much are less, rather than more, likely to procreate. In an opening section that's an equal opportunity offender, these egghead liberals are lambasted for their tendency to wait on having children until they are financially stable or otherwise prepared for parenthood, mentally or emotionally. Meanwhile, careless rednecks are seen spreading their seed as far and wide as possible, causing an explosion in the population of people who have the same intellect and values that they do. And then, that population steadily weeding out everyone else over the course of 500 years.

Part of the reason it's so funny is that we secretly believe it's true. You just don't see as many conservative people waiting until they're 40 to have children as you see liberals. My wife and I are perfect examples. She's nearly 40 years older than our oldest child. We didn't wait because we were waiting to get settled in our careers, but rather, because we didn't meet each other until we were each a couple years into our 30s, and didn't marry until a few years after that. Still, others in our shoes might have been on second or third marriages by then, and already had teenagers.

What's occurring right now, though, seems to reverse Idiocracy's biological assumptions. People with conservative mindsets are now willingly taking part in behaviors that will decrease their chances of procreating, rather than increase them.

Although the more tasteful ones would scarcely own up to it, some liberals secretly rejoiced that Donald Trump held a campaign rally in Tulsa last weekend. Almost no one who attended would be caught dead wearing a mask -- and I have to wonder how those who did wear a mask explained themselves to those who didn't. Of course, not being caught dead wearing a mask meant that you could, very soon, be caught dead not wearing one. The secret rejoicing was over the notion that COVID-infected people not wearing masks would spread their infection to others, and that those people would take it home and infect their like-minded family members and acquaintances. There was an expected chain reaction of death that would purge the voter rolls of some likely Trump voters.

I don't like to openly engage in that line of reasoning because I tend to think "WWOD"? As in, What Would Obama Do? One of the great things about Barack Obama is that he taught us how to fight hard while still staying above the fray. God, I miss that guy.

But I'd be lying if I said I never thought about a thing like that, as merely a practical consideration. If nothing else, I am practical when it comes to Democratic politics. I haven't approached this election season with the idea of which Democratic candidate aligns most with my values. I've always wanted the person with the best chance of beating Trump to win the nomination, and I think we have that in Joe Biden. And if he adds Kamala Harris to his ticket, I think that will further strengthen the ticket on a practical level.

Practically speaking, having fewer voters alive who will vote for Trump also helps.

But it still amazes me that we could get to a point where conservatives -- whom we loosely and sometimes unfairly characterize as people who are only out for themselves -- would put themselves in a position where a reverse Idiocracy could be possible. Shouldn't the implied selfishness of their position make them even more likely to wear a mask? It's like they are embracing a traditionally liberal value -- the belief that society is helpful to the general cause, rather than harmful -- while liberals are telling us to be afraid of others in society, just as they should be afraid of us.

Yes indeed, somehow, it's the over-thinking liberals who are in a position to survive the current pandemic, while the conservatives will die for their beliefs.

Before Trump was elected, I had been hopeful that we would be heading towards a permanent Republican minority. Backwards ways of thinking would be steadily purged out of society as human beings inevitably evolved to be more loving and accepting of others. The election caused me to seriously rethink some of that.

But I didn't ultimately waver in my belief that society is heading in a good direction, rather than a bad one. And it's not that the bad people should be killed off, Idiocracy-style, so that the good ones may prevail. My hope was that the bad ones would steadily realize the errors of their ways as the human race evolved, and would opt to move us toward an Enligthenocracy rather than standing in its way.

And if not wearing masks helps get rid of some of those who will never evolve, and it's their violently expressed choice not to wear them, then I guess, so be it.

Our first Trump-era Idiocracy viewing

On the one hand, Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho (Terry Crews) seems like quite the exaggeration in terms of a person you would want to be in charge of anything, particularly a country. He's a professional wrestler prone to shooting a machine gun into the air to get the attention of the house of representatives.

On the other hand, wouldn't you kind of rather he was president than Donald Trump?

It kind of amazes me that we hadn't watched Idiocracy, a favorite comedy in our household, since Trump's election. Maybe for a while it would have been too painful, and we weren't ready to laugh at the decline of western civilization we thought his election represented.

But we finally corrected that last night, on Mother's Day, as it was my wife's viewing choice to accompany the taco and margarita kit we'd purchased from a local Mexican restaurant for Mother's Day. I've got a good one, don't I?

There does seem to be something about election years, however, that brings out our desire to watch this movie. Going back and looking at my viewing history of Idiocracy, I discovered the following two things:

1) Somehow this was only my fourth viewing of the movie. Even though I've been keeping a comprehensive history of my rewatches for the entire time Idiocracy has existed as a movie, I have to believe there was a fifth in there somewhere that I failed to record, given how both my wife and I can quote from the movie extensively.

2) My previous two viewings were in 2016 and 2012. In 2008, it might have been too soon because I'd only just seen it for the first time the January before, and I didn't rewatch films as regularly back then as I do now.

The 2016 viewing was in February. So it might have been a watch timed to the increasingly likely notion of Candidate Trump, though we surely would have watched it with the certainty that the eventuality of President Trump would never arrive.

Well, it arrived nine months later.

Four years and three months later, there's a good chance Trump's reign will end this November, or really, next January. But if the predictions of Idiocracy hold any weight at all, he could not only get reelected, but also amend the constitution to allow him to keep getting reelected until he dies, and maybe even after that. At which point the presidency gets handed down to whichever one of his children can chug the most beers in five minutes.

"Short and sweet," I said as the credits started to roll at the 79-minute mark, 80 if you round up. Indeed, one of the reasons the movie is so great is that it packs so much in to such a short running time. There isn't a wasted moment, though there could have been -- for the first time I watched the DVD extras, which offered up some truly deadly deleted scenes. Included among those are two scenes with Joe's girlfriend being hit on by her boss. Those characters were left on the cutting room floor entirely, thank goodness.

Other things I noticed this time:

1) Terry Crews used to be credited as Terry Alan Crews. Was that a remnant from his football days? No idea.

2) I love Andrew Wilson as Beef Supreme -- both the performance and the name. Only afterwards looking it up did I realize that he's Luke and Owen's older brother. (And not all that talented, I suppose, which is why he only gets a fraction of the work they do.)

3) Speaking of Luke Wilson, he may be one of my favorite actors who I don't actively consider to be a favorite. He's in a number of movies that I like more than most people do, such as Henry Poole is Here, Middle Men, The Family Stone and The Skeleton Twins. Add that to generally recognized classics like Bottle Rocket, The Royal Tenenbaums, Old School and Anchorman, and you've got a really nice career there. I guess Idiocracy falls somewhere in between a "me movie" and a "generally recognized classic."

4) But as for Dax Shepard, well, this is as good as it ever got for him.

5) People ask why I have a crush on Maya Rudolph -- some of my friends do, anyway. This is Exhibit A.

I wish there were some solid details actually related to the movie that I'd never noticed before, but what can I say -- it's short and I know it well.

And I'll make it a point to watch it again before another four years go by, so I can be sure of those five viewings.

I just hope the next one will come during a Biden presidency.

Not the story of a time-traveling pimp

One of my favorite jokes in a movie with a lot of them, Mike Judge's Idiocracy, is how the prostitute played by Maya Rudolph always fears the reprisals of a pimp named Upgrade -- even when she's spent 500 years in a cryogenic sleep.

He's actually not named Upgrade, technically. He's named Upgrayyed, as we learn once when we see his name in print.

When Luke Wilson's Joe tries to make her see reason by suggesting that the vengeful pimp would have died 450 years ago, Rudolph's Rita counters that Upgrayyed is determined enough to get what he wants that he would travel through time in order to come after her. Or something to that general effect.

Any time we hear the word "upgrade" -- because we almost never hear the word "upgrayyed" -- my wife and I will say it in Rudolph's voice. It never ceases to amuse us.

So you can imagine my disappointment when I went to the movie Upgrade on Thursday night and found it not to be the story of Rita's dogged pursuer.

In fact -- as you probably know since it's been out in the U.S. a lot longer -- Upgrade is about a man who is paralyzed in an attack that kills his wife, who gets an implant in his neck that not only allows him to walk, but to become a kind of killing machine in pursuit of vengeance.
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For how much Upgrade is like other movies that have come before it in general concept, I was surprised by how original it actually felt.

See, the guy is kind of like an empty vessel when the thing in his neck -- which is called Stem, and which resembles a miniature version of a woman's hair clip -- takes control of his functions. And so a scene in which he's repeatedly smashing mugs and plates over the head of an assailant is pretty funny, as it allows actor Logan Marshall-Green to look on with horror while it's happening, unleashing comments like "Oh God" as his hands complete these actions.

It even has a bit of a clever twist at the end, though don't worry, this is not the type of movie where saying there's a twist is any surprise. It's directed by Leigh Whannell of Saw fame, after all.

The movie about the pimp would have been good too.

My top five comedies of the 21st century

Laughing isn't something I've been very eager to do this past week. I missed an unprecedented (as far as I can remember) three days of work with a terrible hacking cough and related symptoms, which included chills, lack of energy, and rivers of phlegm. (Non-consecutive days, at that -- I went in Wednesday before relapsing Thursday.) This is also why you haven't seen a post from me since Tuesday.

You especially don't want to laugh when even small chuckles erupt into rib-bruising episodes that last 15 seconds. Fortunately, I watched plenty of movies not designed to make me laugh -- and one that was designed to make me laugh, but didn't.

But that's not what I'm here to talk about today. Today is project day. See, this week I also listened to Filmspotting's episode devoted to their top five comedies of the 21st century. That episode was inspired by BBC's recent critics poll of the top 100 movies since the year 2000, which is also something I'd like to tackle on my blog. But for now, I'll tackle it in a roundabout way, just as the Filmspotting guys did.

One of the responses to that BBC list was that it was almost totally devoid of pure comedy. Sure, it had films with comedy as one of their genres (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Ratatouille), but hardly anything whose sole purpose was to make you laugh from start to finish. The Filmspotting guys decided to do their show as a corrective.

The thing is, their choices really disappointed me. Obviously comedy is pretty subjective, perhaps the most subjective type of film taste. But that doesn't mean you have to abandon objective critical discussion tactics when discussing comedy. And on those grounds I was inspired to come up with my own top five, to balance the injustices I saw on their lists. (Wouldn't you know it, though -- I had failed to listen to their #1 picks until during this very writing, and one of the hosts picked a movie that appears in my top five, removing just a bit of my righteous indignation.)

Before revealing my choices, I'll give you a bit of a sense of what I'm up against:

Josh Larsen:

5. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
4. Mean Girls
3. Songs from the Second Floor
2. Cedar Rapids
1. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazahkstan

Adam Kempenaar:

5. While We're Young
4. The Trip
3. Role Models
2. Shaun of the Dead
1. xxxxxx (I'll hold this one back for now)

Don't get me wrong -- this is not to say I don't like these films (all of which I've seen). Shaun of the Dead is one of my favorites. However, it being funny is not primarily the reason I like Shaun. Then there are those movies they chose that I am tepid to negative on, like Talladega Nights and Role Models.

To come up with my own choices, I went through my 17 individual Microsoft Word documents covering the years 2000 to 2016, which house a complete listing of movies I've seen in each year. To save time, I suppose I could have just reviewed my list of movies seen multiple times, since it's unlikely any of my choices would come from movies I've seen only once. But that might rule out something recent, and it would be interesting to know whether something I'd seen only once could still claim that kind of pull on me. In the end, all my choices were movies I'd seen more than once.

There were some other interesting patterns. For example, no year before 2004 yielded more than a single realistic contender, which means either comedy was going through a bad stretch around the turn of the century, or I just don't remember laughing very hard at the movies I saw back then because it was too long ago. In fact, I didn't shortlist a single film from 2002. The second half of the years in question were much more fruitful, with every year except for 2013 and 2016 yielding at least two contenders, and sometime as many as four. (Oddly, 2013 gave me zero contenders, wedged in between two other years that gave me at least three each. 2016 is still only half over, so its one contender was not such a surprise.)

One last bit of explanation. The five I chose were meant to represent a diversity of sensibilities, at least somewhat, though some clearly grew out of each others' sensibilities. I didn't repeat a director, in any case. This mostly occurred organically, anyway.

Okay, I think you've had enough preamble. I'll proceed with my top five, and then some honorable mentions in various categories.

5. What We Do in the Shadows (2014, Taika Waititi) - My #5 movie comes by its spot on this list rather unusually. It's a film I made the mistake of watching for the first time on the plane. Which doesn't mean I didn't find it funny, it just means it was not exactly a laughter-conducive environment. I ended up ranking it only 40th among my 2014 films. But my second viewing last year was with my wife, and it immediately primed me for my third viewing. This is just a delicious setup that consistently realizes its jokes, not to mention producing some actual blood and guts for horror enthusiasts and even some seamless special effects (made to seem all the more "real" by the mockumentary format). And part of why I wanted to get this on here was as a nod to the mockumentary as a form, though the 1980s and 1990s had far better examples of that form than anything worth honoring in the 21st century (other than this movie, that is). Favorite moment: When Waititi's main vampire Viago tiptoes down to the basement to wake up Petyr, the 8,000-year-old vampire who communicates only by bearing his teeth and making that "vampire hiss" that sounds basically like an exhalation of air. "Peeta! Peeeeeta!" he says in a sing-songy voice, as though calling forth a hiding infant.

4. The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005, Judd Apatow) - This was the one Adam chose as his #1. And I have to agree. (Well, not entirely -- it's my #4.) I have lately actually felt a bit of an aversion to this film that I can't really explain, which gives you some indication why I haven't seen it in nine years. But as I was coming up with this list, I just remembered the gales of laughter I unleashed in the theater as I was watching it. (And I also remembered that I ranked it my #3 film for the year.) It's no surprise the comedy pickings got better on my year-by-year lists after 2005, as Apatow's directorial debut put in place a new blueprint for comedy, one that has largely flourished (despite plenty of obvious examples of failures, and a likelihood that we'll totally burn out on it within the next five years). It was a grossout with heart, and it "went there" like few films I'd seen. I owe it a revisit, and at the very least I honor its role in our current comedy climate by including it here. Interestingly, this is the only film on this list I saw in a conventional theater environment. Favorite moment: As it's been nine years since I saw it, I'll just go with the one that came first to mind, that made me recognize I was watching something fresh and exciting: Seth Rogen's delivery of his story about seeing the woman have sex with the horse in Mexico. If the movie as a whole was an introduction of a new comedic voice, then within that, we were introduced to Rogen's distinct voice, which has arguably been nearly as influential as Apatow's.

3. Idiocracy (2006, Mike Judge) - Given the reputation in comedy circles this has built in the past ten years, it's hard to believe it was basically dumped, its studio having no idea how to market it. Tellingly, I was looking up movies to see at local theaters the week it came out, and even in the screening times listed on the website it had a placeholder name: Untitled Mike Judge Comedy. And I wasn't going to be that one person to go see it in the theater -- I had to discover it later on video. Fortunately, Idiocracy has made itself known in the intervening years, especially in our house, where my wife might call it her favorite comedy, period. Judge is underappreciated in terms of not only what he's contributed to the comedy world, but the different types of things -- Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill share more in common with their visual appearance than the actual content of their comedy, and Idiocracy is altogether different from both, though they all serve up satire in endlessly funny ways. Now that Trump is actually competitive in the presidential race, people are thinking of this movie as even more prescient than it already seemed even from the start. Favorite moment: When we see the changes to the outside of a Fuddruckers hamburger restaurant down through the centuries, as the name becomes increasingly more suggestive until finally landing on: Buttfuckers.

2. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007, Jake Kasdan) - If Idiocracy is the best satire of the last 16+ years, Walk Hard is the best spoof. It was another one that caught me by surprise, as I didn't prioritize a theatrical viewing. Once we queued it up at home, though, I couldn't get enough. I've seen it only twice, but only because I haven't had a natural opportunity to buy the movie yet. A sort-of third viewing came when I actually went with a friend to see John C. Reilly perform as Dewey Cox in a small nightclub in Los Angeles -- one of my truly cherished live performance experiences of all time. Kasdan makes by far my unlikeliest director to appear on this list, as even his best other movie (Orange County) is pretty middling as comedies go. This movie pierces the heart of its subject matter, the music biopic (specifically Walk the Line), and finds its comedy in a combination of parodies of the typical tropes of a music biopic, a handful of great impersonations, and some of the funniest songs written for a movie since This is Spinal Tap. I just grin from ear to ear as I watch this movie. Favorite moment: When Tim Meadows, as Dewey's band mate, warns him of the dangers of marijuana via many emphatically stated traits of the drug that should scare him: "It's not habit forming! It makes sex even better! It's the cheapest drug there is!"

1. Step Brothers (2008, Adam McKay) - And John C. Reilly is the star of both of my top picks. Narrowly the funniest of McKay's many collaborations with Will Ferrell (edging out Anchorman and leading the others by a wide margin), Step Brothers had me simply screaming with laughter. As my wife looked over at me while we were at the drive-in, she thought perhaps I was possessed -- she had never seen me laugh like that. And this makes four of five films I watched with my wife for the first time, while the other was one I watched with her the second. If I wanted to come up with a thesis on what makes Step Brothers my #1, as I've done with some of the other movies on my list, I couldn't. It's just the movie that made me laugh the hardest. It's also the comedy I've seen the most since 2000, as our fifth viewing was about a year ago. I also have a Step Brothers t-shirt. It helps that with my curly hair, I also look kind of like both Ferrell and Reilly in this movie. Also, it made my top ten of the year. Favorite moment: There are so many I could choose from, so I will just choose a little one, maybe the one that told me I was in for a wonderful ride: At their first dinner together as a joined family, Reilly's Dale makes some crude remark about Ferrell's Brennan, and Ferrell just gets this pained look on his face for a moment, which is completely unexpected -- it's a combination of disgust and genuine hurt. I don't know why but it may be the funniest look I have ever seen Ferrell produce.

Honorable mentions 

As a liberal, I'm a little displeased that my list couldn't include a female-driven comedy or a minority-driven comedy, but there were these two very strong contenders:

Spy (2015, Paul Feig) - The movie that turned me around on Melissa McCarthy, though I unfortunately must admit that the single funniest moments belong to Jason Statham. Feig deserves a mention given that he's also come through with Bridesmaids and The Heat.

Black Dynamite (2009, Scott Sanders) - Just saw this this year, and was laughing throughout. Reminded me of one of my favorite comedies of last century, I'm Gonna Git You Sucka.

There were a couple movies I laughed at incredibly hard the first time, but they didn't hold up as well the second time. They are:

The Dictator (2012, Larry Charles) - Sacha Baron Cohen absolutely needs a mention.

The Interview (2014, Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg) - The controversial film that many people hated the first time. I loved it the first time, but only liked it the second.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008, Kevin Smith) - It took until the third viewing last week for me to turn on this one. Maybe Seth Rogen doesn't age well.

I also highlighted some movies that really surprised me, given what I expected from them. I had no idea these movies would be as funny as they were.

Date Night (2010, Shawn Levy) - I was openly disdainful when I saw the trailers. The opposite after I watched it. One of my favorite lines of the 21st century, delivered by Mila Kunis: "Those nipple clamps hurt me!"

Hot Rod (2007, Akiva Schaffer) - Seen it only once and don't remember the details, but I laughed a lot.

Wanderlust (2012, David Wain) - I had been down on Wain (see my thoughts on Wet Hot American Summer) so this one took me totally by surprise. Paul Rudd practicing and then delivering his dirty talk to Malin Akerman (and her response) is comedy classic material.

Stone Bros. (2009, Richard Frankland) - Comedy featuring Aboriginal actors that we watched mostly because my wife's boss was a producer. We laughed hysterically.

Hall Pass (2011, Peter & Bobby Farrelly) - As this is "late Farrelly" I didn't expect much, but this just missed my top ten for that year. Laughs throughout. Worried about a potential third viewing though.

And finally, funny movies from the period that in many cases I like better overall than the movies I've mentioned, but the reason I love them is not primarily because they are funny.

Tangled (2010, Nathan Greno & Byron Howard) - Has one of my funniest single lines of this century: As the hero, Flynn Rider, engages in a duel with a horse holding a knife in his teeth, while he uses a frying pan, and they move closer to the edge of a cliff, he shouts: "You should know, this is the strangest thing I've ever done!"

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008, Nicholas Stoller) - Hilarious, but the heart is what I really remember about this one.

Elf (2003, Jon Favreau) - Take comment on Forgetting Sarah Marshall and apply here.

Toni Erdmann (2016, Maren Ade) - Perhaps the hardest laughter I've ever experienced in a movie sustained over a ten-minute stretch, but the movie's profundity is what left me sitting in my seat in a pensive fugue state until the credits ended. (Sadly, this is also the only choice in this whole post directed by a woman.)

Okay, I thought I was done but here are just a few more honorable mentions that have no other category:

Team America: World Police
Napoleon Dynamite
21 Jump Street
Klown
Tropic Thunder
Zoolander (thought Ben Stiller deserved some love with these last two)
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (referenced but not actually singled out)

Okay! That was rather exhaustive. Turns out there have been some funny movies this century. Would love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

A very successful birthday present

You know you've bought the right movie for someone when they watch it two days later on their own ... and then tell you they'll watch it again with you in "maybe three weeks."

Yeah, a movie you're willing to watch twice in a month is something you should own.

I knew as much when I bought my wife Idiocracy for her birthday, which was this past Sunday. In fact, when it came up maybe six weeks ago in some other discussion, she said "I love that movie so much, I feel like I should own it." She wasn't dropping hints -- she was just expressing her love for the underrated Mike Judge gem from 2006.

But because I'm an observant person and a good husband (Ow! My arm hurts from patting my own back!), I took that nugget of information and ran with it, ordering a copy from Amazon a week or two later. It arrived in plenty of time for her birthday -- shipped to my work so she wouldn't get wind of it.

I presented it to her on Valentine's Day as an early birthday present, since she'd be leaving down the next day for three nights away as another early birthday present. I knew she'd need things to watch on her laptop at the end of the night. And I knew she'd watch Idiocracy -- which she did last Thursday night.

Can I pause for a moment to say just how awesome it is that my wife loves Idiocracy? Some wives love Twilight or The Vow. My wife loves Silence of the Lambs and Idiocracy. I think I married the right person.

Idiocracy came into our lives in early 2007. It was the final movie I watched before I closed my 2006 rankings in late January, which meant I was watching it at some ungodly hour when she was already asleep. I was sitting there, late at night, like (appropriately) an idiot, laughing quietly to myself. I had to show it to her.

That second viewing -- my last complete one to date -- transpired not too much later, maybe a couple months. It was love at first watch for my wife. She was laughing up a storm, and she has since watched it twice more on her own, both times happening to catch it when it came on cable. Both times unpremeditated, I believe -- which can be an even better indication of the power a movie has over you.

We don't pay for movie stations anymore, so that particular scenario was not likely to arise again. And it's been a couple present-giving occasions since I'd bought her a movie, so I thought it was perfect timing.

The reason we love Idiocracy is not only because it's so funny, which it is. If you don't know the concept, it stars Luke Wilson as a below average soldier in present day, who is cryogenically frozen for (I believe) 500 years -- awaking to discover that he is now the smartest man in the world. That idea is rich with possibilities, and Judge mines them for gold. Throw in a hilarious performance from Maya Rudolph as the present-day prostitute who is also cryogenically frozen, and walks through the future fearing the vengeance of a pimp who has been dead for 450 years, and you've got terrific material.

But part of the reason we love it is that it needs our love. The studio unceremoniously dumped this movie in late August/early September, with nary an advertising campaign. In fact, as an indication just how little this movie registered, even on the day of its theatrical release it was listed on Moviefone.com as Untitled Mike Judge Project. I remember that quite clearly, and am not sure if I had seen that phenomenon before or have seen it since.

In the intervening years the film has gained a cult appreciation, but it's still not as widely seen as it should be. So if you are among those who haven't seen it, change that today. If you have your doubts, just consider the pedigree of the film's director. He created Beavis and Butt-head and Office Space -- if one of those two doesn't interest you, the other should. (I might as well pause here to also pimp Beavis and Butt-head Do America. You'd never guess it, but that movie is not only funny, it's also smart.)

Besides, then you'll have something to talk about with my wife the next time you see her.