‘I think that I just got distracted with Dean, and the drugs, and the gigolos...’
Now, this is a curious one. Writer-director Mike Judge is responsible for one of the most iconic cult films of the ’90s (Office Space), one of the most prescient films of the ’00s (Idiocracy) and two of the most beloved animated TV shows of all time (King of the Hill and Beavis and Butt-Head). His 2009 film Extract boasts not only Judge himself but a cast made up of Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Mila Kunis and J.K. Simmons. And yet, until recently, I had never heard of this film. Curious…
Joel Reynolds (Bateman) is disillusioned with life despite being incredibly rich and having a hot wife (Kristen Wiig). When not dodging his annoying neighbour Nathan (David Koechner), Reynolds is the owner and founder of Reynolds Extract, a flavouring extracts company. Exciting stuff. Joel’s ennui reaches fever pitch with the arrival of Cindy (Kunis) – an impossibly attractive conwoman who somehow convinces Joel that she is both a normal factory worker and someone interested in the world of flavouring extracts. Her arrival (and some ketamine) inspires Joel to hatch a convoluted plan with his local barman and confidante Dean (Affleck – sporting an absolutely preposterous wig) to hire a gigolo (Dustin Milligan) to seduce Joel’s wife so that he can sleep with Cindy guilt-free.
Extract has been described as both “the most disappointing American comedy of the decade” (The Washington Post) and “the funniest American comedy of the summer” (Chicago Tribune) and this speaks to how uneven a film this is. While Judge is incapable of creating something that is genuinely bad, Extract is definitely his least seminal work. There is no doubt there are moments here that are funny. Bateman is always at his best when at his most exasperated and his exchanges with Milligan’s idiot gigolo Brad are truly a joy to behold. Affleck too is good value and Kunis does a fine job of portraying both sides of her devious character. The problem is that while all these disparate elements work well individually they never really coalesce into a convincing whole. Office Space perfectly captured the dissatisfaction of working a 9 to 5 job. Idiocracy foreshadowed the hideous confederacy of dunces that we all inhabit now. Extract is just… a half-decent comedy. Judged on its own merits there is nothing wrong with it but in the context of Judge’s career, it must go down as a disappointment.
