It’s a pretty common trope in science fiction: A planet full of idiots. Whether it’s Idiocracy or a host of SF novels, the fear of the stupid is a common one. And now Steve Carell and Charlie Kaufman are set to take a crack at it with I.Q. 83.
Believe it or not, it’s based on a novel, and a deadly serious one, from Arthur Herzog. Herzog was a novelist of the disaster school, and two of his books have actually been movies before. Terrible, godawful movies, but still. The basic plot of the book is that a viral infection strikes, making us dumber, and a scientist desperately struggles to find a cure before we’re all a bunch of babbling idiots.
As you might guess, according to Deadline, bringing in a comedian and a satirist means they’re taking a slightly more lighthearted take. Essentially they want to make a satire of a country getting rapidly and progressively dumber, and how that might affect America.
If you need to skip down to the comments and make a joke about Kardashians or something, we’ll wait.
Anyway, it’s an interesting idea, and it’s got some compelling talent behind it. But at the same time, a “stupidity virus” seems a little less threatening than, say, Ebola, and the jokes seem a little obvious. Still, we trust Carell and Kaufman, and that much talent is usually a good sign. Either that or they’ll need to keep this handy.