“Extract” Doesn’t Quite Equal “Office Space” In A Plant, But Still Brings The Laughs

Suzie: “Who’d you want to have an affair with, anyway?”
Joel: “Just some criminal drifter.”

I can admit to being slightly obsessed with the genius of “Office Space,” which I first saw when it was just a cult movie, before it grew to the point where quotations from it dominate much of the modern lexicon. So when I found out that Mike Judge was at it again with “Extract,” I was eager to see it.

Now, any review of it has to begin with the disclaimer that Judge raised the bar so high with “Office Space” that it’s nearly impossible to reach with anything else. That being said, “Extract” was highly amusing in general and downright hysterical in parts (the pot-smoking scene was a freaking riot). There were some memorable performances, with my favorite perhaps being the insanely annoying neighbor, Nathan (played by David Koechner, best known to me as Todd Packer from “The Office”). As someone who has a neighbor much like this one, it resonated big-time with me.

I’ve always been of the mind that Jason Bateman is supremely underrated from a comedic standpoint, and he does a strong job carrying the film (his relationship with the Brad character was tremendous) as extract business owner Joel Reynolds. Mila Kunis was good as the con artist/femme fatale, but Ben Affleck was a very strange and awkward choice for his role as the bad advisor/friend/bartender. I also had a hard time buying SNL cast member Kristen Wiig as Bateman’s wife, Suzie; it was another odd casting decision that I just couldn’t quite wrap my head around. J.K. Simmons was good as the name-challenged foreman and the ladies working the conveyor belt in the extract plant were very recognizable and relatable.

Judge does a great job of taking the everyman that we all know, and the people that he surrounds himself with that we all recognize, and squeezing the funny out of the entire situation. The message that kept coming through as the flick progressed was that Reynolds is in dire need of new friends, but the ending was solid. And solid is the descriptor that keeps popping into my mind; judged (pun intended) against “Office Space,” “Extract” is found wanting in a big way. But on its own merit (and if I had seen it without knowing of “Office Space”) it’s still humorous enough to dig.