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Please help me identify a movie referred by an acquaintance. (I haven't watched it.) No cast or director info is available.

The protagonist is today's average man who participates in a scientific experiment with a time machine and lands into the future. The people in this timeline have mentally degraded due to TV addiction, their top IQ is about 80, average is 40-50. They still use technology, but have no idea how it works. They use sweet carbonated drinks for watering their crops, because they believe it is beneficial. The protagonist explains them that they should use plain water for that. When they see that it works out, they elect him as their president. At some point, they want him to solve some problem with a nuclear reactor, and ask if they should water it as well.

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    Kind of OT, but IQ's were by definition averaged at 100, based on samples of the population (at least they used to be). The future people's IQ should average 100 too. Comparing two different populations, especially from different cultures, is troublesome at best. But that's arguing semantics, the movie's idea is fun & I plan to watch it
    – Xen2050
    Dec 4, 2017 at 12:40
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    @Xen2050: obviously, the average person there would have, by definition, an IQ of 100; realizing that, I just assumed TimSparrow meant the average IQ there was 40 to 50 based on the scale in use today.
    – Jennifer
    Dec 4, 2017 at 13:33
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    Honestly, if people got that stupid, I feel like they would no longer have the knowledge to rebase IQ scores or create new tests. They'd be using decades old testing which would give low scores. (Have seen the movie. People are super dumb.)
    – JPhi1618
    Dec 4, 2017 at 14:56
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    "It's got ELECTROLYTES!"
    – Mykewlname
    Dec 4, 2017 at 19:38
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    Are you sure it is a Sci-Fi? That does sound nearly familiar for some places I know.
    – Aganju
    Dec 4, 2017 at 21:36

2 Answers 2

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114

Idiocracy

IMDb has the following summary for the film:

Private Joe Bauers, the definition of "average American", is selected by the Pentagon to be the guinea pig for a top-secret hibernation program. Forgotten, he awakes five centuries in the future. He discovers a society so incredibly dumbed down that he's easily the most intelligent person alive.

As for the specific points you raise:

  • The protagonist is today's average man who participates in a scientific experiment with a time machine and lands into the future.

    A United States Army librarian, Corporal "Average Joe" Bauers, is selected for a suspended animation experiment on grounds of average appearance, intelligence, behavior, etc.

  • The people in this timeline have mentally degraded due to TV addiction, their top IQ is about 80, average is 40-50.

    The human population has become morbidly stupid, speaks only low registers of English competently, is profoundly anti-intellectual, and individuals are named after corporate products.

  • They use sweet carbonated drinks for watering their crops, because they believe it is beneficial. The protagonist explains them that they should use plain water for that.

    Joe discovers that the nation's crops are irrigated with a sports drink named "Brawndo", whose parent corporation had purchased the FDA, FCC, and USDA. When Joe has the drink replaced with water

  • When they see that it works out, they elect him as their president. This one is slightly different because he's elected president due to his high IQ, and when he replaces the drink with water he causes riots and is sentenced to death.

    He is apprehended, but is taken to the White House, where he is appointed Secretary of the Interior, on the grounds that his IQ test identified him as the most intelligent person alive.
    ...
    When Joe has the drink replaced with water, Brawndo's stock drops to zero, and half of the population lose their jobs, causing mass riots. Joe is sentenced to die in a monster truck demolition derby featuring undefeated "Rehabilitation Officer" Beef Supreme.

  • At some point, they want him to solve some problem with a nuclear reactor, and ask if they should water it as well.

    And what about the nuc-
    "nucular" reactor in Florida?
    It's broke and leaky and something's happening.
    I thought it was in Georgia.
    Georgia's in Florida, dumb ass.
    Hey. Hey, I know.
    Let's put toilet water on it. Huh?
    Yeah!
    Good, good. That's a good idea.
    Idiocracy

You can view the trailer here:

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    Congratulations, you beat me by about five seconds.
    – Mike Scott
    Dec 4, 2017 at 12:30
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    @MikeScott 9 seconds to be exact.
    – Edlothiad
    Dec 4, 2017 at 12:31
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    I always thought that was a documentary...
    – PlasmaHH
    Dec 4, 2017 at 14:54
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    And for what it's worth, Brawndo is Gatorade. It's an electrolyte drink, and the salts in it poison the crops. OP describes it as a carbonated soda and no one corrected that.
    – JPhi1618
    Dec 4, 2017 at 15:01
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    (RE: Nuclear Reactor) It was right after he was made vice president, after fixing the crop problem. It goes: "But how are we gonna figure out about the garbage 'ambulanches' and the 'comony'? And what about the nuc- 'nucular' reactor in Florida?". "It's broke and leaky and something's happening." ... "Hey. Hey, I know. Let's put toilet water on it. Huh?" Quote from: springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=idiocracy
    – user88476
    Dec 5, 2017 at 0:32
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That's Idiocracy, for sure.

In a speech, President Camacho gives Joe the impossible job of fixing the nation's food shortages, Dust Bowls, and crippled economy within a week. Joe discovers that the nation's crops are irrigated with a sports drink named "Brawndo", whose parent corporation had purchased the FDA, FCC, and USDA. When Joe has the drink replaced with water, Brawndo's stock drops to zero, and half of the population lose their jobs, causing mass riots. Joe is sentenced to die in a monster truck demolition derby featuring undefeated "Rehabilitation Officer" Beef Supreme.

Frito and Rita discover that Joe's reintroduction of water to the soil has prompted vegetation to grow in the fields. During the televised event they show the sprouting crops on the stadium's display screen, and Camacho gives Joe a full pardon, appointing him Vice President. Joe and Rita find that the "time masheen" Frito had mentioned is merely an inaccurate, history-themed amusement ride. Following Camacho's term, Joe is elected President. Joe and Rita marry and conceive the world's three smartest children, while Vice President Frito takes eight wives and fathers 32 of the world's stupidest children.

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