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Movies that feel like Idiocracy (2006)

If you loved Idiocracy, the closest films we have are Mickey 17 (2025), The Adam Project (2022) and Free Guy (2021). All three share Idiocracy's witty and playful feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 9 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on HBO Max Amazon Channel, HBO Max and Netflix and others, checked against today's data.

To test its top-secret Human Hibernation Project, the Pentagon picks the most average European-Americans it can find - an Army private and a prostitute - and sends them to the year 2505 after a series of freak events. But when they arrive, they find a civilization so dumbed-down that they're the smartest people around.

πŸ… 71% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 6.5 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Mike Judgewittyplayfulcerebralepictensedarkly funny

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If Idiocracy hit the spot, these will too

Mickey 17 poster
Mickey 17
2025 Β· dir. Bong Joon Ho
πŸ… 77%β˜… 6.7science fiction Β· comedy Β· adventure

Dark comedy is the engine of both

The difference: Missing the tension of Idiocracy

Unlikely hero Mickey Barnes finds himself in the extraordinary circumstance of working for an employer who demands the ultimate commitment to the job… to die, for a living.

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The Adam Project poster
The Adam Project
2022 Β· dir. Shawn Levy
πŸ… 68%β˜… 6.7adventure Β· science fiction Β· comedy

The same mix in both: wit, then play

The difference: None of the tension that defines Idiocracy

After accidentally crash-landing in 2022, time-traveling fighter pilot Adam Reed teams up with his 12-year-old self on a mission to save the future.

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Free Guy poster
Free Guy
2021 Β· dir. Shawn Levy
πŸ… 80%β˜… 7.1comedy Β· adventure Β· science fiction

Cerebral and epic in the same breath

A bank teller discovers he is actually a background player in an open-world video game, and decides to become the hero of his own story. Now, in a world where there are no limits, he is determined to be the guy who saves his world his way before it's too late.

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Back to the Future Part III poster
Back to the Future Part III
1990 Β· dir. Robert Zemeckis
πŸ… 79%β˜… 7.5adventure Β· comedy Β· science fiction

Comedy built on wit, twice over

The final installment finds Marty digging the trusty DeLorean out of a mineshaft and looking for Doc in the Wild West of 1885. But when their time machine breaks down, the travelers are stranded in a land of spurs. More problems arise when Doc falls for pretty schoolteacher Clara Clayton, and Marty tangles with Buford Tannen.

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Back to the Future Part II poster
Back to the Future Part II
1989 Β· dir. Robert Zemeckis
πŸ… 63%β˜… 7.8adventure Β· comedy Β· science fiction

Playful science fiction in both cases

Marty and Doc are at it again as the time-traveling duo head to 2015 to nip some McFly family woes in the bud. But things go awry thanks to bully Biff Tannen and a pesky sports almanac. In a last-ditch attempt to set things straight, Marty finds himself bound for 1955 and face to face with his teenage parents -- again.

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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy poster
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
2005 Β· dir. Garth Jennings
πŸ… 60%β˜… 6.7adventure Β· comedy Β· science fiction

Both trade on ideas more than on being adventure

Mere seconds before the Earth is to be demolished by an alien construction crew, Arthur Dent is swept off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher penning a new edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

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Paul poster
Paul
2011 Β· dir. Greg Mottola
πŸ… 70%β˜… 6.9adventure Β· comedy Β· science fiction

Epic thriller, and it commits to that

For the past 60 years, a space-traveling smart-ass named Paul has been locked up in a top-secret military base, advising world leaders about his kind. But when he worries he’s outlived his usefulness and the dissection table is drawing uncomfortably close, Paul escapes on the first RV that passes by his compound in Area 51. Fortunately, it contains the two earthlings who are most likely to rescue and harbor an alien on the run.

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Back to the Future poster
Back to the Future
1985 Β· dir. Robert Zemeckis
πŸ… 93%β˜… 8.5adventure Β· comedy Β· science fiction

Comedy with a pulse of wit, in both cases

The difference: 21 years apart, and the 1980s show

Eighties teenager Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time to 1955, inadvertently disrupting his parents' first meeting and attracting his mother's romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by rekindling his parents' romance and - with the help of his eccentric inventor friend Doc Brown - return to 1985.

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The Day After Tomorrow poster
The Day After Tomorrow
2004 Β· dir. Roland Emmerich
πŸ… 46%β˜… 6.5science fiction Β· thriller Β· adventure

Both trade on tension more than on being science fiction

The difference: Critics were much harder on this one

After paleoclimatologist Jack Hall is largely ignored by UN officials when presenting his environmental concerns about the beginning of a new Ice Age, his research proves true when a superstorm develops, setting off catastrophic natural disasters throughout the world. Trying to get to his son, Sam, who is trapped in New York City with his friend Laura and others, Jack and his crew must travel to get to Sam before it's too late.

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Pulp Fiction poster
Pulp Fiction
1994 Β· dir. Quentin Tarantino
πŸ… 92%β˜… 8.8thriller Β· crime Β· comedy

Both keep circling back to dark comedy

The difference: Leans crime where Idiocracy does not

A burger-loving hit man, his philosophical partner, a drug-addled gangster's moll and a washed-up boxer converge in this sprawling, comedic crime caper. Their adventures unfurl in three stories that ingeniously trip back and forth in time.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles poster
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
2014 Β· dir. Jonathan Liebesman
πŸ… 20%β˜… 5.8science fiction Β· action Β· adventure

Both built around experiment

The difference: Plays it as action more than Idiocracy does

When a kingpin threatens New York City, a group of mutated turtle warriors must emerge from the shadows to protect their home.

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War of the Worlds poster
War of the Worlds
2005 Β· dir. Steven Spielberg
πŸ… 76%β˜… 6.6adventure Β· thriller Β· science fiction

Dystopia sits at the heart of each

Ray Ferrier is a divorced dockworker and less-than-perfect father. Soon after his ex-wife and her new husband drop off his teenage son and young daughter for a rare weekend visit, a strange and powerful lightning storm touches down.

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The best-reviewed films that share Idiocracy's defining feeling.