Extract

Trapped in a sexless marriage, flavor extract factory owner Joel (Jason Bateman) is looking for a way to change his life. He gets his chance when employee Step (Clifton Collins) loses a testicle in an industrial accident. Con artist Cindy (Mila Kunis) smells a lawsuit and sets herself up for a scam, catching Joel’s eye in the process. To rid himself of the guilt he would feel in pursuing her, Joel follows the advice of his friend Dean (Ben Affleck) and hires a pool boy (Dustin Milligan) to seduce his wife (Kristen Wiig).



It’s been more than a decade since Mike Judge shook up the white collar world with Office Space. He’s largely flown under the radar (2006’s Idiocracy never got a theatrical release) since then, but another workplace setting was bound to generate some buzz and invite some comparisons. It the case of Extract, these comparisons threaten to turn a perfectly watchable comedy into a dreadfully disappointing follow-up.


Extract is no Office Space. Though they share a writer/director (Judge), plot elements (a scam, pursuit of a dream girl), and a common theme (work sucks), it would do neither film justice to view Extract as an informal sequel. Not only does the newer film fail to measure up (less memorable characters, fewer laugh-out-loud lines), but the two films seem to be doing different things. Office Space was steeped in zeitgeist. Without the Y2K panic and the tech bubble, it couldn’t exist. Factory unrest, on the other hand, has more of a timeless quality. Further, the workplace is incidental to Extract. The movie is really about Joel’s lack of fulfillment and it would be much the same if he worked on a farm or at a car dealership.


Take away the comparisons and what you are left with is a serviceable, albeit conventional film. Bateman makes Joel likeable even when he’s doing dislikable things, and his attempts at rage and frustration are pretty amusing. The usually amusing Wiig plays it disappointingly straight as wife Suzie and Kunis continues to prove she isn’t much of an actress, but there are some good performances in minor roles. J.K. Simmons is delightfully dismissive as Joel’s factory cohort, while Beth Grant steals all her scenes as a lazy, racist, condescending, dim-witted employee. Don’t miss Gene Simmons as a money-hungry personal injury lawyer.


In a world where Office Space never existed, Extract would still probably be a letdown because it does not make full use of the talent involved. Nevertheless, it offers up a down-to-earth, if uneven and somewhat forgettable, of people behaving badly.


7/10