Dumb and Dumber

Janine maintained that the source of Flaubert's scruples was to be found in the relentless spread of stupidity which he had observed everywhere, and which he believed had already invaded his own head. It was (so supposedly once he said) as if one was sinking into sand. —W.G. Sebald, The Rings of Saturn

"Idiocracy" is not a dumbed-down comedy but a comedy about dumbing down — an important difference. Its future is a richly imagined dystopia of butt-headedness. The population is so mentally deficient it has lost the capacity for basic self-sufficiency. Garbage mountains loom everywhere. Crops are dying. Water has been replaced by a fluorescent-hued sports drink. ("It's what plants crave," the ad slogan promises.) —Dennis Lim, "'Idiocracy' Deserves a New Life" (Los Angeles Times)