LOS ANGELES — Ten years ago, Mike Judge satirized the absurdities of the workplace experience from the perspective of put-upon employees with "Office Space." It didn't do much when it came out but, as we all know by now, it became a cult favorite on cable and home video, to the point where it changed the way you looked at the common stapler.
Now, Judge is back to the daily grind with "Extract," but this time the writer-director tells his wacky working tales from the boss' point of view: that of Jason Bateman's Joel Reynold, owner of a flavor extract factory. It's doubtful that this comedy will grab its audience in the same way, though. Judge's characters are so one-note and their misadventures so ridiculous that it's hard to get attached to them or care about how they turn out.
Pretty much everyone in "Extract" is stupid, unlikable, self-destructive or all of the above — and so there are no real surprises. They include:
• Step (Clifton Collins Jr.), a doofus who prides himself on being the company's fastest sorter but dreams of being promoted to floor manager;
• Cindy (Mila Kunis), a sexy but sociopathic con artist who weasels her way into Joel's factory with a scheme to make money off a serious accident;
• Rory (T.J. Miller), a pierced-and-tatted goth rocker who's too busy handing out flyers for his latest show to do his job; and
• Mary (Beth Grant), an assembly-line worker who complains in a nasally twang about everyone else slacking, even though she's probably the least productive employee of all.
As the person responsible for overseeing all these idiots and incompetents, Bateman functions in his patented exasperated everyman mode, similar to his Michael Bluth character on "Arrested Development," only without the smart, surreal dialogue. Joel is proud of the company he founded but finds himself unhappy at work and thinking about selling to General Mills. At the same time, his nonexistent sex life with his frosty wife Suzie (a thoroughly underused Kristen Wiig) at his Texas McMansion has him pondering adulterous thoughts about the flirty Cindy.
His best friend Dean (Ben Affleck), a suave bartender at a generic hotel sports grill, suggests that Joel hire a gigolo (Dustin Milligan) to sleep with Suzie, thereby giving him license to cheat on her with Cindy. With his Kenny G haircut and canned mysticism, Dean is probably the most outlandish character of all. But he provides just the latest example of Affleck's ability to breeze into a movie in some flashy supporting part, steal the scenes he's in and breeze back out again. (It's actually a better fit for him than most of his leading-man roles.)
On the other end of the freak-show spectrum is Nathan (David Koechner), Joel's nerdy neighbor from across the street who keeps hounding him and Suzie about attending the annual Rotary Club banquet with him. ("It's just a real loose bunch," he insists.) Over-the-top annoying as he is, Nathan feels more like a real person than pretty much everyone else in "Extract." We all know someone like him: a guy who drags people into painfully boring conversations, hangs around too long and can't take a hint to go away.
The scenes between Bateman and Koechner are unbelievably cringeworthy but they also suggest the kind of movie "Extract" might have been if Judge had dared to throw in a little more flavor throughout, and not just relied on deadpan inanity.
"Extract," a Miramax Films release, is rated R for language, sexual references and some drug use. Running time: 91 minutes. Two stars out of four.
At the Movies
Related Photos
Discussion
Welcome to our online comments feature. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable as well as posts that are attacking other users. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.
September 1, 2009
'Extract' tastes too bland
- At the Movies
-
-
Mel Gibson returns in 'Edge of Darkness'
It's been seven years since his last film, but Mel Gibson is still playing martyr. One might fairly call Gibson "The Crusader," and not just because of his widely known religious views or because he directed "The Passion of the Christ."
-
'Saint John of Las Vegas' no divine comedy
The deadpan comedy "Saint John of Las Vegas" opens with Steve Buscemi walking into a Vegas convenience store, plopping down an envelope full of cash and asking for a thousand lottery tickets. "Why not?" he asks with a mixture of defiance and despair.
-
FILM REVIEW: 'Tooth Fairy' full of smiles, clichés
Just weeks after something dubbed a "squeakquel," we have a movie advertised with the tagline: "You can't handle the tooth." One quakes for the marketing that awaits us for "Marmaduke."
- Vampire thriller 'Daybreakers' is DOA The only lesson to take away from Ethan Hawke's horror-action tale "Daybreakers" is that vampires cannot run the world's affairs any better than we tasty humans can.
-
Effects wow but story limps in 'Avatar'
When a film brashly asserts that it will change moviemaking forever, one feels the urge to either take its "king of the world" arrogance down a notch or hail it as the masterpiece it claims to be.
-
'Ninja Assassin' sports a dull blade
When considering the meager merits of the bone-snapping, blood-splattered "Ninja Assassin," it's best to remember the words of John Goodman's PC-challenged character in "The Big Lebowski": "The man in the black pajamas, Dude. Worthy ... adversary."
-
‘Princess and the Frog’ is a hearty hop
The spirit of animation maestro Walt Disney lives on. The studio has gone back to its roots with a fresh, funny retelling of a classic fairy tale in “The Princess and the Frog,” Disney’s return to hand-drawn animation after a five-year hiatus.
-
Wildness intact, ‘Bad Lieutenant’ returns
It’s post-Katrina New Orleans and there are snakes in the water — none bigger than Terence McDonagh, an exceptionally corrupt detective, who slinks through town snorting coke, smoking heroin, harassing women and brandishing a .44 Magnum stuffed in the front of his pants.
-
‘Planet 51’ proves unable to support intelligent life
It’s been a big year for animation, with a great variety of styles represented by “Up,” “Monsters vs. Aliens,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and the upcoming “The Princess and the Frog.”
-
'The Blind Side' focuses on the feel-good
The redemption-minded sports flick "The Blind Side" serves its inspiration straight-up with no twist. Writer-director John Lee Hancock wisely lets the true story of Michael Oher — the African-American teen who found a home and, eventually, football stardom, after being adopted by a wealthy Memphis family — speak for itself.
-
Army drama ‘Messenger’ delivers fitfully
It’s an unenviable task, making films about the war on terror for audiences that don’t want to sit through dramatizations of the same bad news they get for real out of Iraq and Afghanistan.
-
‘Gentlemen Broncos’ a saddle-sore mess
“Gentlemen Broncos” is a comedy so weird, so off, so simply wrong that even freakish hero Napoleon Dynamite would have a hard time lending it his catch word, “Sweet.”
-
Gorgeous ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ roars to the screen
“Where the Wild Things Are,” the book, is just 339 words long. But in turning it into “Where the Wild Things Are,” the movie, director Spike Jonze has expanded the basic story with a breathtaking visual scheme and stirring emotional impact.
-
Sheen shines in the gritty ‘Damned United’
You don’t have to be a soccer expert, or even know all that much about the sport, to get sucked into the competing personalities and personal dramas of “The Damned United.
-
Showmanship Moore’s top commodity in ‘Capitalism’
How do you make a movie about the country’s current economic crisis and actually get people to see it? Two obstacles most obviously arise: illustrating such a potentially dry subject in a compelling way, and persuading audiences to pay money for information they can get at home — and feel depressed about — for free.
-
‘Reasonable Doubt’ like ’80s TV movie
Beyond its generic, forgettable title, “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt” feels like some throwaway 1980s TV movie, with its implausible premise, dizzying twists, cheesy montages and melodramatic score.
-
'9' is breathtakingly original
Despite their roughhewn appearance, the resourceful rag dolls in "9'' obviously were crafted with great love and care, both by the scientist who made them in the film and the mastermind behind them in real life, director Shane Acker.
-
'Extract' tastes too bland
Ten years ago, Mike Judge satirized the absurdities of the workplace experience from the perspective of put-upon employees with "Office Space." It didn't do much when it came out but, as we all know by now, it became a cult favorite on cable and home video, to the point where it changed the way you looked at the common stapler.
- Big Fan' a vivid portrait of sports geekdom Jim Rome urges his listeners (or "clones," as he so lovingly calls them) to have solid takes, to bring it, when they dial into his sports talk radio show.
- Quentin Tarantino's new movie has its glorious moments If only Quentin Tarantino the director weren't so completely in love with Quentin Tarantino the writer, "Inglourious Basterds" might have been a great movie rather than just a good movie with moments of greatness.
-
No go: Paramount won't show critics 'G.I. Joe'
It's the biggest movie of the summer that practically no one has seen. "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" opens Friday, but Paramount Pictures isn't screening the blockbuster for critics beforehand. Only a select few writers from blogs and movie Web sites have seen it for review — such as Harry Knowles, the self-professed "Head Geek" from Ain't It Cool News — and their opinions have been mostly positive.
-
'People' is both funny, frustrating
If only Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen hadn't gotten in the car. If only they hadn't left Los Angeles, where everything in "Funny People" was going so well, and driven north to Marin County, where everything falls apart. Judd Apatow would have had his most mature, accomplished film to date.
- 'G-Force' topples 'Harry Potter' at box office An elite squad of guinea pigs has worked its own brand of magic at the box office, taking the No. 1 spot from boy wizard Harry Potter.
-
'The Ugly Truth,' battle-of-the-sexes romantic comedy, that isn't pretty
t the end of the drearily formulaic romantic comedy "The Ugly Truth," as our two leads are finally admitting they've fallen for each other (no spoilers here, folks), Katherine Heigl's character asks Gerard Butler's why he's in love with her. Basically, he says he has no idea, only he phrases it with a word we can't reprint here. Our sentiments exactly.
-
‘Shrink’ showcases Kevin Spacey’s strengths
Say what you will about some of Kevin Spacey’s more questionable choices over the past decade, movies like “Pay It Forward,” “K-PAX,” “The Life of David Gale” and his labor-of-love Bobby Darin biopic, “Beyond the Sea.” When he’s on — when he has strong dialogue to work with and solid actors to play off of — he’s got a presence and a command that are tough to beat.
-
New 'Harry Potter' goes to head of class
Harry Potter has kept his fans waiting for two years, the longest school break they have had to endure for a new movie adventure about the teen wizard. It's been worth the wait.
-
'Bruno' quickly goes out of style
The problem with "Bruno" is Bruno himself. Compared to Borat — and it's impossible to avoid the comparison — there simply isn't enough to the character to build an entire feature-length film around him.
-
Review: 'Ice Age' is 'yawn of the dinosaurs' tale
There's more action and cuddly creatures for kids to love in "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" than in the animated franchise's first two installments. For their parents, it's more of the same, a "Yawn of the Dinosaurs" adventure with some new faces and places but the same central characters rehashing the themes of the first two movies.
-
'Public Enemies' dazzles the eye but drags
With "Public Enemies," all the pieces would seem to be in place for an epic gangster drama: director Michael Mann, who has an affinity for complicated criminals; stars Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, who are famous for immersing themselves in their roles; and a thrilling true story of brazen bank robbers on the run.
-
'Moon' a haunting sci-fi tale
"Moon" does something extraordinary: It seems familiar and derivative, yet upends your expectations about science fiction and surprises you over and over. Melancholy and mesmerizing, equal parts mystery and character drama, it keeps you guessing until the end.
- More At the Movies Headlines
-
Jodi Arias: Death Penalty Would Cause More Pain
Raw: New Video of Deadly Oklahoma Tornado
Looking for Love? Take the Prague Metro
Raw: Costa Rica Volcano Roars to Life
Today in History May 22
Raw: Japan's WWII Atrocities Under Fire in Seoul
Raw: Students Clash With Police in Chile
IRS Official Pleads 5th Amendment
First Person: Baby Falcons on a New York Bridge
Police Ram House to End Hostage Standoff
Oklahoma: Images of Devastation, Reunion
Crews Race to Find Survivors of Okla. Twister
Raw: Aftermath of Deadly Attack in London
Florida FBI Shooting Has Boston Bombing Links
Lawyer: Feds Investigating Susan Powell Case
Protests Outside Cincinnati IRS Office
Families Begin Returning to Their Homes in Moore
Reunited Dad, Son: 'We Just Praise God'
Tim Cook Defends Apple's Tax Accounting
Raw: Aussie Zoo Shows Off White Rhino Calf
Oklahoma Survivors, Heroes Survey Damage
Trout's cycle a boost for Angels
Kim Kardashian Flaunts Pregnant Bikini Body in Greece
NBA star pledges $1M to help tornado recovery
Shakira's Shocking Talent
Morgan Freeman falls asleep on air
GRAPHIC: Blood-Soaked Machete Killer Caught on Tape
Elin Nordegren Furious With Lindsey Vonn For Parading Kids in Public
Camera Captures Climber As He Loses Grip And Falls
Helen Mirren Meets with Dying Boy in Queen Elizabeth's Place
Crowd Chants '¡Si, Se Puede!' After Passage of Immigration Bill
DWTS Crowns a Winner
Demi Moore a Rocks Bikini at Harry Morton's Family House
Anthony Weiner: I'm running for New York City mayor
Kate Middleton's Dress Flies Up
VIRAL: Baby makes epic soccer goal
The Hangover Baby All Grown Up
Olivia Munn Flaunts Her Bikini Bod
