Extract

2009, Rated R, 92 minutes, Directed by Mike Judge, Written by Mike Judge, Produced by John Altshculer & Michael Rotenberg, Cinematography by Tim Suhrstedt, Original Music by George Clinton

With: Jason Bateman (Joel), Mila Kunis (Cindy), Kristen Wiig (Suzie), Ben Affleck (Dean), J.K. Simmons (Brian), Dustin Milligan (Brad), Beth Grant (Mary), Gene Simmons (Joe Adler), David Koechner (Nathan)

Mike Judge brought us the comedy classic Office Space about the lives of cubicle workers. He created a cast of characters that amusingly tried to get through their days at the office despite everything  that was hitting them. Fast forward 10 years and Judge  brings us a film about the management side of a company: Extract. While the idea of Judge examining the other side of the work coin was an exciting idea for me, the movie itself was just an average comedy with sporadic moments of humor.

Joel (Jason Bateman), is the founder and president of Reynolds Extract. Seemingly, he is living the American dream: he has a wife, Suzie (Kristen Wiig), a great house, his company is successful and General Mills is interested in buying him out meaning he could retire early. However, his life is not all it seems and what looks successful on the surface is in serious jeopardy of crumbling all around him. He is in an unhappy marriage and worries his wife may be unfaithful, his employees, while mostly moronic, are discontent and always causing problems, and the company is facing bankruptcy after a workplace accident takes away part of an employees manhood, and to top it all off he has a  pestering neighbor whom he can never seem to avoid. His only real friend is Dean (Ben Affleck), a bartender at a hotel who is constantly offering him various drugs to solve his problems.

Nothing seems to be going right for Joel and every chance he has to catch a break quickly comes crashing down upon as a result of the people around him or sometimes even himself. Extract has moments of original comedy but many of the jokes have been done before: a group getting high and there is that one guy who does not experience it well, or a nagging person (insert the context here) who you just cannot avoid and who is totally oblivious to how people feel about him. A lot of the jokes in the movie feel just like that nagging neighbor in that they pop up again and again and are less funny each time to the point that you see the joke coming and just want to get it over.

In Office Space, Michael had his co-workers that were often involved in his life; in Extract, the supporting cast is given little development and screen time while the movie focuses on Joel. Bateman’s character carries a very negative air about him and it more often feels negative instead of negatively funny. His personality is often too downtrodden to be comical. 

The movie is not totally devoid of humor. The moronic aspiring gigelow Brad (Dustin Milligan) frequently brings laughs to his scenes. Con-woman Cincy (Mila Kunis) brings a comedic touch to the way she flirts with men to con them. Ben Affleck has some funny moments when he counsels Joel through his tough times by for instance, accidentally giving him a horse tranquilizer pill then convincing him that the best thing for him to do is to hire a gigolo for his wife.

The overall problem with the movie is that the management side of business just is not as funny as the worker side. Managers, at least the type that Bateman portrays, take their jobs very seriously and do all they can to not be funny. Workers on the other hand have much more freedom to act how they want. Extract spent so much time focusing on Joel, that there was not enough time to be funny elsewhere. Instead of being comedic, it was more often frustratingly serious even when funny things happen (a quarrel between two workers is funny until the main characters swoops in to end the conflict and consequently the humor).  Judge does not capture the full humor of management as he did the humor of cubicle workers in Office Space.

Extract is not a total comedic loss and there are several instances that are genuinely funny. Those moments are quickly overshadowed by the more negative and serious tone of the film. You can tell it is trying to be funny, but it never fully attains a hilarious status. Judge may have developed a classic comedy with Office Space, but with Extract he created a movie that will quickly be forgotten in the annals of comedy.

C

Content Advisory

several instances of profanity throughout, various sexual references and inferences including adultery, some drug use

Food for thought/discussion

1. Joel makes up with his wife Suzie and seems to forgive her for her transgressions. Discuss the nature of their resolution. Is it healthy or unhealthy, or both?

2. There are many instances in the film that deal with forgiveness. Discuss the theme of forgiveness. How does it compare with your understanding of forgiveness? the Bible’s?

3. How does Extract comment on the nature of the American dream? Is it critical or laudatory towards it?