Idiocracy (2006)

"The years passed, mankind became stupider at a frightening rate. Some had high hopes the genetic engineering would correct this trend in evolution, but sadly the greatest minds and resources were focused on conquering hair loss and prolonging erections."

Private Joe Bauers, the most average man in the US army, is chosen to be the subject of an experimental hibernation project. He is frozen alongside a woman called Rita but when a prostitution scandal hits the army base in which they are being stored, the experiment is forgotten about and rather than their being re-animated a year later they find themselves waking up in a world 500 years into the future. There hasn't been great progress however and mankind's intelligence has suffered badly. Everything is in disrepair, buildings are held together with string and the most popular show on TV is called Ow, My Balls! After being arrested, Joe is given an IQ test and found to now be the most intelligent man in the world. Will he be able to use his new found intelligence to save mankind and find a way back to his own time?

Clever and well written satire by Mike Judge, the man behind Office Space and Beavis & Butt-Head. Luke Wilson, a man with a naturally confused look about him, is good as our average Joe, bumbling around in the future trying to come to terms with man's idiocy and Terry Crews who you may know from The Expendables or Brooklyn Nine-Nine is very funny as Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho, the ex-wrestler turned President. There are some nice performances all round but it's the sets and visual jokes of a distopian, dilapidated future that are the real winners and a damnation of the American consumer society. From Ow, My Balls to Starbucks being a brothel it's gag after gag in a style you'd expect more from Carl Reiner and Steve Martin.

The film did very badly on an early screening and that led to Fox sitting on it for more than a year before giving it a very limited release with almost no marketing. Subsequently however it has gained something of a cult following (Fox even licensed out the "Brawndo" drink for sale, though it's no longer available) and a well-deserved reputation as something of a hidden gem. Watch to the end of the credits for an extra scene that, after 10 years, I'v only just found was there.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/?ref_=tttr_tr_tt