Finally had a chance to check out "Extract," the Mike Judge comedy that takes place in an Extract factory. Like other Judge comedies like "King of the Hill" and "Office Space" (one of my favorite movies ever), "Extract" revolves around a relatively sane guy surrounded by kooks and misfits.
In this case, the sane guy is Joel Reynold, played by Jason Bateman, who does sane really well. Look no further than his character of Michael Bluth on "Arrested Development" for proof of that. As the owner of an extract company, Reynold seems to have it all together. But one of his main problems is that if he doesn’t reach his door every night by 8 p.m., his wife Suzie (Kristen Wiig) is cinching up her sweatpants and completely uninterested.
So the sexually frustrated Joel asks his best friend Dean (Ben Affleck as an awesome slacker) to create a scheme to make Suzie cheat on him. Then Joel will be able to cheat with a new girl at work (Mila Kunis, who seems to be able to play just about any character). What he doesn’t know is that she’s a sexy con artist with a mile-long rap sheet.
At work, Joel and his second in command Brian (J.K. Simmons) are in the middle of selling Reynold’s Extract to General Mills. That is, if they can keep the place on the straight on narrow. That’s a tough task, consider the employees: Step (Clifton Collins, Jr.), a doofus who hopes to become floor manager some day; Rory (T.J. Miller), a goth-rocker who uses his work time to pass out flyers; and Mary (Beth Grant), a bitter worker whose penchant for folding her arms and shutting down production causes accidents on the line, one of which took out poor Step’s manhood.
More after the jump…
And so it goes. It’s so touchy making these quirky comedies work. This one has all the right elements, including a great cast, dry-wit writing, and roles for Gene Simmons as a lawyer and David Koechner as an anal retentive neighbor. And if you watch carefully, you’ll see Mike Judge himself playing factory worker Jim. You know it’s him, because he sounds exactly like Hank Hill, the character he voices on "King of the Hill" (well, one of the many characters he voices).
I think the reason "Extract" hasn’t gotten great reviews is because it rambles through the storyline. But if you’re a fan of Mike Judge, you should definitely check it out. It has some very funny lines, but rest assured, it’s not for kids. This is what you call an adult comedy.
Image: Amazon.com
Leave a Reply