I used to love Tom Arnold’s stupid 1996 movie The Stupids. The premise was that the whole family was. . . stupid. The plot revolves around Tom Arnold’s character, Stanley Stupid. He’s a sort of neo-conspiracy theorist who is perplexed about who keeps stealing his trash every morning. He is determined to track the thieves down.

One day, he takes out the trash and then hides in the bushes to see what happens. He watches in horror as strangers in uniform whisk away his trash.

The rest of the movie is spent watching him trying to track down where the trash goes. There is also a rather long side-plot of him trying to track down who “Sender” is, because he keeps getting letters that say “Return to Sender.”

In both instances, it turns out he isn’t as stupid as he seems: both of his hunches check out. Sender is a demonic man in cahoots with the police who burns mail in a giant snake’s mouth in his underground lair.

There are also aliens involved in the Return to Sender scheme, but y’all don’t pay me enough to re-watch the movie closely enough to explain what exactly their role is.

Stanley Stupid’s Trash Thief Conspiracy also checks out. It turns out his refuse is being stolen every morning as part of an elaborate weapons deal between the US military and an Al Qaeda/ Yakuza / Caribbean / Mob / Mafia /Nazi / Native American conglomerate.

It really is a stupid movie and the role won Tom Arnold a 1997 Raspberry Award for Worst Actor. But, like all seemingly low-brow content, it has some high-brow angles. For my purposes, it’s a commentary about the deep interconnectivity between the military-industrial complex, the police, and the apparent peace and stability of our everyday lives. And most poignantly, it highlights the gaslighting we receive when we question it all: we are called stupid.

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