EXTRACT

Mike Judge has a good comic ear for types, be they the workplace (Office Space), down-to-earth conservatives (King of the Hill) or just plain morons (Beavis and Butt-Head). Unfortunately, in his new film Extract, written and directed by Judge, the humor and insight are almost missing.

Extract centers on Joel (Jason Bateman), the founder and owner of Reynold's Extract, a soda-type product. Joel works in the office, smoothing over the various problems and worker complaints. Things are good for Joel: General Mills is considering buying out the company, and when Step (Clifton Collins Jr.) suffers a, er, mid-body injury he's willing to settle for an insurance payout. On the downside, Joel hasn't slept with his wife Suzie (Kristen Wiig) in three months; for her, the sweatpants are the same as a chastity belt. And Joel's bartender buddy Dean (Ben Affleck) is a fountain of bad advice, most of it revolving around drugs.

Enter Cindy (Mila Kunis), a young woman very willing to use her good looks to help her scam and steal whatever she can. She gets Step thinking of suing for as much as she gan get, and her flirtations with Joel make him consider Dean's advice to hire good-looking moron Brad (Dustin Milligan) to seduce Suzie so Joel can then go after Cindy without any guilt.

Unlike Judge's other work, Extract doesn't provide sympathy or interest for his characters. Instead of having comedy come from the characters, there are "funny situations" that aren't funny (like Joel coughing up massive amounts of marijuana smoke) and one-dimensional characters, from an annoying neighbor who never stops talking to Gene Simmons as a greedy lawyer. The cast is fantastic -- I've loved Bateman, Kunis, and J.K. Simmons in other work, and Wiig shows a nice timing that her SNL work must have delevoped -- but the characters aren't interesting. Extract has a few laughs here and there, but it's surprisingly disappointing.

Overall grade: D
Reviewed by James Lynch