[Revolting cat!]

Rent out the video Being There, or read Kosinski's book (they're both excellent!) We've got us a real live Chauncey Gardiner - a halfwit on a pedestal.

[Vision Thing]

It looks like you fell into the trap set by the Kosinski. Chauncy Gardiner was not a halfwit. However, the author wanted readers (and the audience) to interpret Chauncy to be a halfwit, just as the other characters in the movie interpreted him to be whatever they wanted him to be.