September 17, 2009 -- “Extract” is the much-anticipated new film from Mike Judge, director of the 1999 cult comedy “Office Space.” Like that film, Extract is a film about humor in the workplace, but it is told from a management perspective this time. This film has generally been regarded as a disappointment to Mike Judge's fans. It isn't really a good film, nor is it really funny. At the same time it is also somewhat above the average Hollywood comedy. It falls into that vast no man's land of films that are neither good, bad nor average. It is just in-between, a C+ film.

Much of the humor in the film is low-key and low-energy. The film's main character, Joel (played by Jason Bateman of “Hancock”) acts as if he is anesthetized. He doesn't really show much reaction to anything. Also unresponsive is Joel's wife, Suzie (Kristen Wiig of “Ghost Town”). Fortunately, the film has some interesting characters, highlighted by the bad-to-the-bone criminal drifter Cindy (Mila Kunis of “Max Payne”) and her unsuspecting victim, Step (Clifton Collins Jr. of “Crank: High Voltage”). Step, injured in an accident at Joel's food extract plant, is persuaded by Cindy to sue the company. The lawsuit puts the pending sale of the company in jeopardy. Cindy helpfully engages the services of a seedy, TV-advertising lawyer, Joe Adler (played with creepy intensity by rock star Gene Simmons of “Kiss”).

Other interesting characters include Joel's business partner, Brian (played by gifted actor J.K. Simmons of “Burn After Reading”) and Joel's bartender friend Dean (Ben Affleck of “State of Play”). Aided by the effects of drugs and alcohol, Dean persuades Brian to hire a gigolo to tempt his wife into having an affair. The insane idea behind this scheme is to allow Joel to have a guilt-free affair with Cindy. Dean has many equally brilliant schemes to improve Dean's life. Throughout the film, Joel and Suzie are pursued by the relentlessly chatty and intrusive neighbor, Nathan (David Koechner of “Get Smart”).

There are some funny scenes in the film, but a deadpan approach to the material absorbs so much energy from the story it ends up being almost inert. This is so much smarter and more insightful than most films, however, it is worth a look, at least a rental. The basic material is here for a good film, but it doesn't quite achieve that threshold. It is one of those films that falls into an in-between rating. There are some movie fans that don't like the C+ rating, arguing that it is some kind of cop-out. The trouble is all too many films fall into this category. There are a lot of D+, C and C+ films coming out of Hollywood, but relatively few score higher or lower than those ratings. Without the C+ rating, a critic loses a rating that appropriately describes a large number of Hollywood films. This film rates a C+.

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Copyright © 2009 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
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