Some people are destined never to hit the big time, or to shake the shackles of cult status.
Say the name Mike Judge and those of a certain age and predilection will recall a couple of sofa-bound numbnuts named Beavis and Butthead, a duo that despite their iconography from the 90s MTV boom generation, are a hazy memory at best. Strain even further and anyone remotely deserving of the tag “film buff” will quote his commercial dud Office Space as a justifiable cult classic.
Similarly bracketed is Extract’s leading man, being afforded that status for the first time since Teen Wolf Too, Jason Bateman. Lost in the “next big thing” wilderness for years, he emerged as the patriarchal figurehead of the dysfunctional Bluth family in Fox’s criminally cancelled but peerlessly hilarious, Arrested Development.
Sadly, it appears that Extract will join their CV lists of high quality but little seen fare, and that’s such a shame when “comedies” such as Leap Year and Old Dogs stink up multiple cinema screens.
It’s the story of Joel (Bateman), the owner of a food extract factory, a wholly unremarkable man currently questioning his lot in life. With a takeover in the balance and a barely competent workforce testing his sanity on a daily basis, Joel is about to grab life by the scruff of the neck and as a consequence watch it spiral out of control.
Examining the hardly fresh theme of a midlife crisis, Judge makes Extract a more accessible version of, say, A Serious Man. It’s less of a plot and more a series of light hearted set pieces; the annoying neighbour that has a touch of Groundhog Day’s Ned Ryerson about him; the testicle-related factory accident that brings new meaning to “nuts and bolts”; and the ridiculously dark Indecent Proposal-style scenario in which Joel pimps out his own wife to the pool cleaner, who’s actually a gigolo, all so that he can justify an affair with a hot factory employee, who’s also a thief. Seriously, who doesn’t want to watch that unravel?
What makes these farcical shenanigans work is the excellent cast. Bateman may just be Michael Bluth (his Arrested character) by another name but his affable charm means that we laugh and feel for him in equal measure, and all of the best clowns illicit empathy. Serial support stalwart, JK Simmons, is at his laconically sarcastic best, and SNL alumni Kristin Wiig drops her usually effective staccato shtick to appear disappointingly subdued.
The true standout is the bonkers turn from Ben Affleck as a shaggy-haired go-to guy, a stoner sage that offers Joel all the wrong kind of advice. The “Fleck” is let loose to grab all of the zingers in Judge’s script.
Destined to find a more fitting home on DVD, this is hardly groundbreaking or even laugh-out-loud funny, but with “comedy” such a loose term these days, Extract certainly deserves the tag.
[etRating value=“ 3”]
Say the name Mike Judge and those of a certain age and predilection will recall a couple of sofa-bound numbnuts named Beavis and Butthead, a duo that despite their iconography from the 90s MTV boom generation, are a hazy memory at best. Strain even further and anyone remotely deserving of the tag “film buff” will quote his commercial dud Office Space as a justifiable cult classic.
Similarly bracketed is Extract’s leading man, being afforded that status for the first time since Teen Wolf Too, Jason Bateman. Lost in the “next big thing” wilderness for years, he emerged as the patriarchal figurehead of the dysfunctional Bluth family in Fox’s criminally cancelled but peerlessly hilarious, Arrested Development.
Sadly, it appears that Extract will join their CV lists of high quality but little seen fare, and that’s such a shame when “comedies” such as Leap Year and Old Dogs stink up multiple cinema screens.
It’s the story of Joel (Bateman), the owner of a food extract factory, a wholly unremarkable man currently questioning his lot in life. With a takeover in the balance and a barely competent workforce testing his sanity on a daily basis, Joel is about to grab life by the scruff of the neck and as a consequence watch it spiral out of control.
Examining the hardly fresh theme of a midlife crisis, Judge makes Extract a more accessible version of, say, A Serious Man. It’s less of a plot and more a series of light hearted set pieces; the annoying neighbour that has a touch of Groundhog Day’s Ned Ryerson about him; the testicle-related factory accident that brings new meaning to “nuts and bolts”; and the ridiculously dark Indecent Proposal-style scenario in which Joel pimps out his own wife to the pool cleaner, who’s actually a gigolo, all so that he can justify an affair with a hot factory employee, who’s also a thief. Seriously, who doesn’t want to watch that unravel?
What makes these farcical shenanigans work is the excellent cast. Bateman may just be Michael Bluth (his Arrested character) by another name but his affable charm means that we laugh and feel for him in equal measure, and all of the best clowns illicit empathy. Serial support stalwart, JK Simmons, is at his laconically sarcastic best, and SNL alumni Kristin Wiig drops her usually effective staccato shtick to appear disappointingly subdued.
The true standout is the bonkers turn from Ben Affleck as a shaggy-haired go-to guy, a stoner sage that offers Joel all the wrong kind of advice. The “Fleck” is let loose to grab all of the zingers in Judge’s script.
Destined to find a more fitting home on DVD, this is hardly groundbreaking or even laugh-out-loud funny, but with “comedy” such a loose term these days, Extract certainly deserves the tag.
[etRating value=“ 3”]
