Extract (2009) - Film Review
New Mike Judge Comedy Is A Satisfying, Mellow Ride
Writer-director Mike Judge may have hit the jackpot with successful television shows such as King of the Hill and the 90's cult hit Beavis & Butt-head, but his theatrical output has been largely overshadowed by his own success. This is especially apparent considering the fervent fanbase for his first live-action feature, the 1999 workplace classic Office Space.
His long-awaited 2006 comedy Idiocracy failed to find a major audience, so there's a lot riding on the success of this newest picture. Perhaps Judge's commercial box office failure can still be seen as a triumph in that his work seems to take time to work its magic on the viewer. Extract should prove no different, for while it features plenty of laughs (and moderately bankable names) it may take time for its charms to fully develop.
Jason Bateman Heads A Stellar Cast In Extract
One of the film's biggest problems is that it doesn't appear to have a distinctly tangible theme. The trailer paints it as a stoner comedy, yet it's closer in spirit to darker films such as Election over lighthearted Harold & Kumar type romps. The titular extract is less related to marijuana than it is a literal reference to processed vanilla extract.
Protagonist Joel (Jason Bateman at his prime) is a bored extract factory owner, and is looking to sell off his plant to General Mills despite the fact that it represents the culmination of his lifelong dreams. His homelife fares no better, as his seemingly asexual wife Suzie (Kristen Wiig) consistently chooses sweatpants and Dancing With The Stars over intimacy.
Joel is yet another stand-in for Judge, a smart guy who feels suffocated by a world of dolts. Said dim bulbs include nosy neighbor Nate (David Koechner as this film's version of Milton Waddams), his pill-pushing bartender pal Dean (a very laid back, scruffy Ben Affleck) and a legion of coworkers with delusions of grandeur and tendencies toward blaming their own failings on any random Mexican.
The seemingly smooth company sale goes south (along with the rest of Joel's life) once a redneck worker named Step (Clifton Collins Jr.) loses a testicle in a Rube Goldberg-esque chain of accidents and idiocy. Further compounding the damage is the sudden appearance of Mila Kunis' money hungry Cindy, a grifter turned temp worker looking for Step's settlement cash with the aid of Gene Simmons' unctuous lawyer Joe Adler.
Mike Judge Yearns To Be Extracted From A World Of Butt-heads
When Joel's wandering eyes fail to recognize Cindy's dubious nature, he quickly enters into a ketamine-fueled bargain with Dean to craft a guilt-free excuse for having an affair with the girl. Enter Brad (Dustin Milligan), a gigolo and supreme being of stupidity who is paid to impersonate a pool boy in order to seduce the ice cold Suzie.
While there are plenty of more capable and focused mid-life crisis comedies (again, see Election), there's something about Extract's ambling, abstract essence that satisfies. It's certainly loaded with quotable moments, such as metalhead worker Rory's (T.J. Miller) outburst "I'd be the laughing stock of the grindcore community" or the ever-reliable J.K. Simmons' habit of calling every underling "dinkus".
What's most surprising is that the script routinely avoids falling into the potholes it foreshadows. Numerous predictable plot threads are quickly avoided, thanks in part to Bateman's godlike gift for subtlety. Just when it looks like the next obstacle is going to send him into a spasmodic paroxysm, Joel dials it back and becomes too cool to play into the madness surrounding him.
Mike Judge seems to love writing stories about the smart guy outnumbered by morons (taken to literal lengths in Idiocracy), but he mistakenly assumes there are throngs of ticket-purchasing people just like him out there. Yet while naysayers and low box office returns will probably label this another misfire, Judge will most likely have the last laugh again.
Just watch, the flavor of this Extract will grow on its audience until it becomes another cult classic on home video.
Rating: 7 out of 10
- Extract (2009)
- Written and directed by Mike Judge
- Starring Jason Bateman, Mila Kunis, J.K. Simmons, Ben Affleck, Kristen Wiig, David Koechner
- Running Time: 91 Minutes
Jason Bateman Stars In Mike Judge's Extract
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