Idiocracy - 20th Anniversary!

Idiocracy is back on the big screen at the Paramount and Stateside Theatres on Saturday, July 18, as part of the Paramount Summer Classic Film Series. This screening marks the 20th anniversary of the cult comedy, which Mike Judge wrote and directed. It's a DCP presentation of the original 2006 film, 84 minutes long and in color.

For those who need a refresher, the story follows Corporal Joe Bauers, an average American selected for a top-secret hibernation program who gets forgotten for 500 years. He wakes up to a future so incredibly moronic that he becomes the most intelligent person alive. The cast features Luke Wilson in the lead, with Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, and Terry Crews. It's a satire that's only grown in reputation since it first came out, and seeing it in a theater with a crowd is a different experience than watching it at home.

There's a local connection here, too: Judge shot the movie right here in Austin. He's well known for Beavis and Butt-Head, King of the Hill, and Office Space, and Idiocracy fits right into that same vein of social commentary. The screening is part of the Paramount Summer Classic Film Series, which brings older titles back to the big screen throughout the season.

As for the venue, the Paramount has stood on Congress Avenue in downtown Austin for over 100 years. Built in 1915, it's the city's oldest surviving theater, a City and State Landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and one of the few remaining 'hemp houses' in the country. It operates alongside the State Theatre next door under The Austin Theatre Alliance, a 501(c)(3) non-profit. The screening is on Saturday, July 18, at the Paramount.