Sidewalks On The Corner

He created two popular animated series, Beavis and Butt-head and King of the Hill. He brought us the cult classic, "Office Space." Now, Mike Judge tries to charm audiences a third time with his new film, “Extract.” Does he succeed?

Follow up:

EXTRACT
Miramax Films
Written and Directed by MIKE JUDGE
Cast: JASON BATEMAN, MILA KUNIS, KRISTEN WIIG, J.K. SIMMONS, DAVID KOECHNER, CLIFTON COLLINS, JR., GENE SIMMONS with BEN AFFLECK

MOVIE SYNOPSIS:
“Extract,” is the latest comedy from writer/director Mike Judge (“Office Space,” “King of The Hill,” “Beavis and Butt-Head”). Joel, played by Jason Bateman ("Juno," “Arrested Development”), is one step away from selling his flavor extract factory and retiring to easy street when a freak workplace accident sets in motion a series of disasters that put his business and personal life in jeopardy. The film also stars Kristen Wiig (SNL, "Ghost Town"), Mila Kunis ("Forgetting Sarah Marshall") and Ben Affleck ("State of Play").

Ben Affleck as Dean and Jason Bateman as Joel in EXTRACT.
Photo Credit: Miramax Film Corp/Sam Urdank

J.P.'s TAKE:
My first impression of the film was: this is going to be another cult classic, filled with clichés, apropos jokes and rampant laughter. Honestly, this movie sounded good on paper. In my opinion, however, after viewing the film, I just didn't see any point of turning it into a movie. It begins with Cindy (Mila Kunis) in a music shop chatting it up with two salesmen about a guitar. O.K. so no big deal, right? The supposed twist here is she walks straight out of the shop -- guitar in hand without paying. I thought at first that there may be some potential there.

About midway through the film, I soon learned that it would progress into a collage of under developed comical moments surrounded by clichés. There are several main themes here that could have become comedic genius, if they were executed in an unconventional fashion. One of the running themes is incompetence in the work place. First, there's a plot to con Joel Reynolds (Jason Bateman), the owner of Reynolds Extract plant, out of millions of dollars. Second, Joel’s wife Suzie (Kristen Wiig) is the desperate house wife who ends up sleeping with the pool boy (90210’s Dustin Milligan). Third, Joel consults with his friend Dean (a long-haired, bearded Ben Affleck) for advice on how to get his wife interested in him again. There is a couple more, but all of these plot points went nowhere; on top of that, we've heard it all before. Instead Judge plays it way too safe with the script.

Dustin Milligan as Brad and Kristen Wiig as Suzie in EXTRACT.
Photo Credit: Miramax Film Corp/Sam Urdank

Unfortunately, the payoff was not a rewarding one. I felt cheated because Judge walks the audience down the path of infidelity and untruthfulness; only to lead them to a dead end. I wanted him to really play up some these clichés and take them to the next level. Sadly, this movie didn't gain so much as a chuckle from me. Sure, I laughed, but only at the stupidity of the characters and how watered down the material was. Knowing that Mike Judge is the creative genius behind Beavis and Butt-Head, King Of The Hill, and "Office Space," I totally expected something comically arousing from him. Instead, we got nothing…and I mean nothing. To Judge's credit, he really does know how to weave a story. The way he built up the story, kept me interested just long enough to see where it was going. All in all this was a movie best suited for an On Demand comedy network or direct to DVD.

Mike Judge's all time classic comedy "Office Space" became a cult hit, because it was a social commentary about the working class. It was a comedic take on the average everyday working stiffs wanting to get away from it all. The disgruntled employees go on a rampage, after rebelling against the "boss man" by stealing office equipment and destroying it. After a while they just stopped coming to work altogether. The fantasy/comedy made a point -- one in which those living that life everyday could understand. It appears Judge was trying to reintegrate that same formula with “Extract” and, unfortunately, the comedy got extracted out of it.

Although this was a slightly charming movie with a few chuckles here and there, I feel a little guilty about saying that “Extract” isn't worth printing a movie ticket for.

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J.P. Langston is a member of "Sidewalks Entertainment" team primarily as a videographer. He loves movies, especially sci-fi horror and action comedies. Some of his favorite films include "Blade Runner" "The Matrix Trilogy," The (original) "Star Wars," "Equilibrium," "Serenity," "Kill Bill Vols 1 and 2," "Appleseed," "Unbreakable" and "Sin City." He has a large DVD collection, which is still growing. Since reviewing films for "Sidewalks," he has been expanding his palette for all types of films.