Extract Left a Bad Taste In Our Mouths

Brandon: I'm a big fan of Mike Judge's work over the years. Beavis and Butthead were controversial and hilarious when they first came out, King of the Hill was always under-appreciated while it was on TV, and Office Space is one of the funniest cult comedies of all time. When Extract came to DVD, I was certain we were in for a treat!

Jenni: Judge's writing has always been his strongest talent, and he's an expert when it comes to capturing the humor and heart found in conversations with everyday people. Extract introduces us to Joel Reynolds (Jason Bateman), the owner of a flavoring extract factory, who is struggling to cope with his potentially unfaithful wife, his own infatuation with his cute new employee (Mila Kunis), and the rest of his employees that are trying to take advantage of him. A plot like this should have been comedy gold for Judge.

Brandon: Yes, it should have been. In fact, the plot of Extract so closely resembles that of Office Space (as seen from management's point-of-view) it should have been an easy home run. What with a factory full of disgruntled employees, stoner best friends, idiot gigolos, and annoying neighbors, how could this not be an absolutely amusing movie? I'm still so confused as to how this turned into one of the most boring and humorless films I've seen in a long time.

Jenni: It broke my heart too. I mentioned how Mike Judge is a consistently incredible writer, and it seems like many of the jokes in the movie were probably very funny on paper. Something just didn't translate well when it went from script to film. Personally, I blame the acting. Jason Bateman's bumbling shtick was funny enough when he was on Arrested Development, but it's getting old in everything else that he does. I didn't like his character, and I hated how he got such a **SPOILER ALERT** happy ending when his actions were often just as deplorable as those of the rest of the characters. He was an inattentive, career-driven clod, so it's no wonder why his wife was so unaffectionate.

Brandon: I'm not such a Jason Bateman-hater. Sure, we've seen him play this character before, but it still seemed appropriate for the part. I am a Ben Affleck-hater though, and his character definitely could have gone. His "hilarious" stoner cameo was lame and pointless. But my dislike for Ben Affleck runs deep, so I can't attribute my hatred of this movie just to his presence in the film. No, I have to turn the focus back on Mike Judge. Although I applaud him as a writer, I really think it was his role as a director in this film that deserves the blame. There was some funny material hidden in there, but I think that the pacing and tone of the film just killed any humor that could have been had.

Jenni: Although I still place a lot of the blame on Jason Bateman and Ben Affleck - good point there, by the way - I agree that the directing and editing could have been tightened up a lot. I felt like the director had a shopping list of plot points he was trying to get to the audience, and we were just dragged from one scene to the next. Everything was very plodding, very deliberate, and very formulaic. Ultimately there was just no joy, and thus no humor in this movie.

Brandon: I agree, and you summed things up nicely there. This movie had tons of potential, but it had no heart. It doesn't get any recommendation from me either. And with that, the snobs are out for this week. Peace!

You can watch the trailer for Extract here.