Rating: R
Starring:
Jason Bateman as Joel
Mila Kunis as Cindy
Kristen Wiig as Suzie
Ben Affleck as Dean
J.K. Simmons as Brian
Clifton Collins Jr. as Step
Dustin Milligan as Brad
David Koechner as Nathan
Beth Grant as Mary
T.J. Miller as Rory
Javier Gutiérrez as Hector
Lidia Porto as Gabriella
Gene Simmons as Joe Adler
Matt Schulze as Willie
Lamberto Gutierrez as Victor
Directed by Mike Judge
Special Features:
– Deleted Scenes
– Extended Scenes
– Mike Judge’s Secret Recipe Featuette – The ingredients for a classic Mike Judge film
Other Info:
Widescreen (1.85:1)
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
French Language
Spanish and French Subtitles
Running Time: 92 Minutes
The Details:
The following is the official description of the film:
“The creator of ‘Office Space,’ writer-director Mike Judge (‘Beavis and Butt-head’), moves from cubicles to the assembly line with ‘Extract’ – his outrageous return to workplace comedy, featuring a hilarious ensemble cast of quirky characters. About to sell his successful flavor extract company, life is almost sweet for Joel (Jason Bateman) until a freak on-the-job accident happens. Add to that his bored wife (Kristen Wiig), his laid-back, stoner best friend (Ben Affleck), a sexy con artist (Mila Kunis) who blows into town with dollar signs in her bedroom eyes, and a dumb gigolo – and life as he knows it turns sour. Filled with laugh-out-loud one-liners and raunchy comedy, ‘Extract’ is 100% pure hilarity.”
“Extract” is rated R for language, sexual references and some drug use.
Mini-Review:
Fans of Mike Judge are going to see a lot of his touches throughout this movie. For example, Joel’s friend Dean, played by Ben Affleck, will remind you a lot of Lawrence from “Office Space.” Both characters are a bit stupid, have a lot of funny lines, and still manage to be likeable. Then you have Beth Grant as Mary and Clifton Collins Jr. as Step, both of whom seem like they stepped straight out of an episode of “King of the Hill.” They’re working class characters. And while Mary is loud-mouthed and hard headed, Step is soft-spoken and has a strong work ethic. Not even losing a testicle in an industrial accident will make him lose loyalty to his company and co-workers. Then there’s T.J. Miller as Rory who seems like Butt-head grown up and attempting to hold down a job. All these elements will appeal to Judge fans.
At the core of “Extract” is the story of Joel. His marriage to Suzie has lost its spark and he finds himself frustrated. Jason Bateman is pretty good as Joel. He’s sympathetic to audiences and he makes a great straight man for all these other more outrageous characters. Unfortunately Kristen Wiig doesn’t get to flex her comedy muscles as Suzie. She’s capable of a lot more, but this isn’t what is called for here. Some scenes where Brad, a gigolo hired by Joel, attempts to seduce her are funny in a soft core porn parody sort of way, but otherwise she’s not seen a lot. Mila Kunis looks like she’s going to be in the film a lot as Cindy based on the DVD cover, but she has surprisingly little screen time. She’s a character that most guys know – a pretty girl that gets away with a lot thanks to her looks. But once her looks are gone, you can bet she’d probably appear on “COPS.” She’s funny, but like Wiig she’s capable of more than this role calls for. Look for amusing cameos by Gene Simmons as lawyer Joe Adler, J.K. Simmons as Brian, and David Koechner as the annoying neighbor Nathan.
Despite the strong cast and the talent of Mike Judge behind it, “Extract” is ultimately as unsatisfying as Joel’s marriage. Every conflict set up in the film has a mediocre ending. You expect Cindy to get some sort of big send-off, but she doesn’t. You expect Joel and Suzie to have some sort of knock-down, drag out fight. That doesn’t happen. You expect some confrontation between Joel and his employees. That doesn’t happen either. Are they realistic resolutions? Yeah, probably. But they’re not the most entertaining. “Extract” is still worth checking out, but it’s not Mike Judge’s best film to date and I doubt it will gather the cult following of “Office Space” on DVD.
Unfortunately, they seriously skimped on the bonus features. The only one is a brief ‘making of’ featurette where they show some behind the scenes footage, interviews with the cast and crew, and other standard stuff. They do have a funny bit where Mike Judge attempts to direct himself as one of the factory workers, but it would have been better to see more in the extras.
