The Medium is the Message: "Idiocracy"

Idiocracy (2006) is a surprisingly decent enough movie, and one which I only recently caught wind of. Built on a structure of wrought irony, it combines effective stupid laughs with social commentary about the "dumbing down" of America. Broader and more impugning than Office Space, the telling message is delivered through a stack of Marshalls.

Another fine example of a Mike Judge production that on its face seems to be just a simplistic and juvenile A-to-B story -- which in many ways it is -- but once you get past the crispy coating, you find some incisive and even subtly creative food for thought. The doctor operates with a chainsaw rather than a scalpel, but the fact that Judge is almost completely off the H-wood radar -- blacklisted, it seems -- apparently hasn't stifled him in the least.

While maybe it wouldn't have been worth a theater ticket, it's a better waste of eighty-something minutes than pretty much any TV show. It may not be the most brilliant movie you've ever added to your Netflix queue, but that's only fitting.