Idiocracy (2006)

 

Joe's life changes when he is chosen to be the guinea pig for a secret hibernation experiment, but when he wakes up from 500 years of slumber, he realises that he is the smartest man on the planet.

Sci-fi satire has a great premise (and seems quite prescient today) doesn't give much depth to its criticism of American society, but nonetheless is quite entertaining, albeit on a more simple level.

Maltin**1/2: "Smart, funny ideas by Judge and cowriter Etan Cohen can't keep this scattershot movie afloat, but it's got some laugh-out-loud moments." 

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

An estranged family of former child prodigies reunites when their father announces he is terminally ill.

Elaborately produced and obsessed with details, the story itself hardly goes anywhere, and the star cast is treated like pawns in a game of chess.

Halliwell*: "The fun here lies in the details - dalmatian-spotted mice, battered taxicabs, the elegant pages of an imaginary book - rather in the disjointed narrative, which sets the scene deftly and then collapses."

Maltin**1/2: "Rambling comedy has the same likable, eccentric qualities as the filmmakers' BOTTLE ROCKET and RUSHMORE and benefits from Hackman's savvy performance, but strains for effect and essentially has no story."