Extract (2009)
Dean (Bateman), the owner of a flower-extract plant, tries to contend with myriad personal and professional problems, such as his potentially unfaithful wife (Wiig) and employees who want to take advantage of him
Extract, a Mr. E Movie Review
(Run time: 92 min. - Directed by: Mike Judge - Starring: Jason Bateman, Ben Affleck, Mila Kunis, Kristen Wiig)
The new comedy Extract isn't necessarily a laugh riot, but it has it's moments. Now, don't get me wrong Extract is a bad movie, it‘s just not a great movie! It’s entertaining, full of colorful characters, and was worth the price of admission. It just doesn’t take you on that much of a ride.
The story is about Joel, played by Jason Bateman, who is the owner of an extract manufacturing plant. But, when an accident happens on the warehouse floor it has Joel worrying about a possible lawsuit. In addition, Joel and his wife Suzie, played by Kristen Wiig, are having problems with their sex life and so Joel turns to his bartender buddy, played by Ben Affleck, for answers. His suggestion, hire a guy to sleep with his wife so he can have a guiltless affair with his new temporary employee Cindy, played by Mila Kunis. The only problem is that Cindy's really a con woman out on her own mission at the extract plant and it could cost everybody everything.
If improvements were to be made in this movie it would have to come from Mike Judge’s naturally sarcastic side. I mean Office Space King of the Hill, and even Beavis and Butthead were all successful because of Mike’s witty sarcasm. Those adjustments would have lifted the rest of the movie and it all would’ve became more entertaining. As far as the acting everyone was on point especially Jason Bateman. He has an undercover comedic talent that I'd definitely like to see in more movie's. Ben Affleck was great at playing a cool devil's advocate. (A role I think he really seems to enjoy!)
As far as the women go, Mila Kunis played the slick, hustling, hottie to perfection and Kristen Wiig's purposely dry character was just what was needed to make the whole story work so well.
I'd recommend Extract for an innocent date movie or maybe even for something to go see on a weekend afternoon.
Age is of the essence here. I feel like if I were older then I would find Mike Judge's new film "Extract" quite a bit funnier than I did. The film is geared more toward adults. It's not that the film has too many sexual themes or anything of the sort but a lot of the film's humor takes place in an office building and has to do with the workers within it. If I had experienced working in an office building then I bet I could've understood more about how the characters felt and why the older people in the theater with me were laughing hysterically.
The film revolves around Joel (Jason Bateman), the owner of an Extract plant who is always trying to attend to a great number of personal and professional problems. These consist of his potentially unfaithful wife (Kristen Wiig) and his employees who want to take advantage of him.
The jokes are hit or miss in the film but the actors hold it together all the way through. The cast is the best element of the movie as they're hilariously boring. I especially love Ben Affleck as the crazy bartender. The character is a sharp turn for him as an actor and I think the performance really worked with the beard and the long hair. He makes one of the more memorable comedic characters of the year. Kristen is once again charmingly funny and she has convinced me that she can do anything with her characters and still make them funny.
Many of the jokes worked for me but, in my opinion, there wasn't enough jokes to make the film good. When the jokes aren't in the script the plot becomes thin and the movie starts to get dull after a while.
If you're a fan of the humor in "Office Space" then this film will entertain you as an audience member. Otherwise, "Extract" is only good enough to rent on DVD.
