Joel owns his own company making extract and is bored with life; he and his wife have lost the flame of their relationship, he’s tired of owning his business, and he hates his neighbors. All of this changes when there is an accident on the factory floor and the factor gets a new temp, Cindy who is looking for a way to cash in on the award the accident victim will be getting. Joel and all of his male employees and friends are soon obsessed with Cindy and Joel is even convinced by his best friend Dean to pay someone to have an affair with his wife so that he can have a guilt-free affair with Cindy. As in any Mike Judge comedy, nothing goes as planned.
I have to admit that I am one of the many people that went out and saw
Extract because I adore
Office Space. I did enjoy
Extract but not nearly as much as I enjoyed
Office Space; what I am trying to figure out now is if I adore
Office Space so much because of how many times I’ve seen it or because it’s a better movie. It is quite possible that with more viewings all the nuances of
Extract will be just as funny to me as all the quirks of
Office Space are.
Perhaps it’s my stage of life, but while I enjoyed all the characters in
Extract, I just couldn’t relate to any one of them. Their lives are nothing like mine yet, and though this normally wouldn’t keep me out of enjoying a movie, Judge makes the kind of comedy that tries to be an exaggerated slice of life and this was in no way my life. I’m not married, a stoner, a scam artist or a business owner. I however am single, an office employee and a former member of the retail world so I totally understand
Office Space.
What I did adore about
Office Space was Ben Affleck. Yes, heckle me all you wish but I am a fan of Affleck – I think he’s highly underrated and needs to be used more, especially in comedy. Affleck plays Dean, a bartender, minor drug dealer, and wannabe pimp. He was one of the funniest things about
Extract and I would have loved to see him on screen more.
I also have to give props to Jason Bateman. Bateman is the current king of subtle comedic acting and he excels at deadpan humor and “mundane” characters. I want to see Bateman do more as every role I see him in is memorable and entertaining, right down to his character in
State of Play.
While I was not immediately desiring to add
Extract to my DVD collection, it is a fine film that will undoubtedly become a favorite with Judge fans and the audience that will slowly discover it more and more when it comes to DVD.
Director & Writer: Mike Judge
Joel: Jason Bateman
Cindy: Mila Kunis
Suzie: Kristen Wiig
Dean: Ben Affleck
Brian: JK Simmons
