Extract – So Close, Yet So Far

I went to see Extract today and while there were a number of ‘laugh out loud’ moments, it certainly didn’t live up to Mike Judge’s previous ‘workplace comedy’ masterpiece, Office Space.  In fact,  despite what the reviews would lead you to believe, this movie isn’t really about a workplace at all.  The story primarily focuses on Joel (Jason Bateman) day to day life – his sexless marriage with his wife, his annoying neighbor and all the pent up frustration that goes with it.. While he is the owner of a flavour extract company, the workplace humour is certainly secondary to the myriad of problems Joel is facing as the business goes down the tubes at the hand’s of a Con-artist and his marriage crumbles.

The film focuses on Bateman’s character, and he is excellent in the role. He is a very believable, almost bland character,   almost like the ‘everyman’ rather than the central character in a comedy film. At times this is of benefit to the overall believability of the movie, but at others it leaves you wondering what else was possible if Bateman had a little more ability to move away from ‘normal’ behaviour.   With the exception of a couple of silly elements of fate, the character is pretty logical and believable.   A number of Bateman’s best lines weren’t obvious ‘jokes’ in the classic sense, and I think that this confused some of the folks that were in the theater with me who weren’t exactly sure what to laugh it.  In my case, there were definitely a number of times where I felt like I was the only person laughing in a half full theatre.

Central to Joel’s bad decision making is his stoner buddy and bartender, Dean (Ben Affleck).  At first, I found Affleck’s performance to be hilarious and interesting, however there is simply too much of him in the film. The banter between Affleck and Bateman is too predictable, and it seems that their relationship is used to only push the dirtiest and most outlandish discussions in the movie. While he is central to the plot,  there are many scenes were his presence seems forced, and served to slow down the action. I think that his role would have been better left as a small cameo.

Overall, the film had great potential, but I just wish that it would have focused more on the actual day to day interactions of the employees at the extract factory. I felt like the majority of the scenes at the factory were shown in the various trailers, which ruined a number of the jokes for me.  For the plant workers, I found that plant manger Brian (J.K. Simmons) stole the majority of the scenes he was in. I just wish that they showed more of his interaction and management style with the employees because on the surface the character showed all the traits of a classic clueless manager.

The potential for the film was there, but it simply didn’t live up to my expectations.  Don’t get me wrong, there a number of very funny moments, but not to the extent that I have come to expect from Mike Judge.  All the elements of  a cult classic are there, but I don’t think that the average person can relate to the humor on the same level that you can in Office Space which captured the day to day grind of the office peon so amazingly well.  Extract had the possibility of becoming the production line, working class man’s version of  Office Space but Judge clearly decided to go in another direction, and it’s really too bad.

Rating – 3/5