I wouldn't say I'm a fan of Mike Judge, but on occasion I do find myself popping in my old DVD copy of "Office Space." Sure it's not a great film by any means, but its humor about the office and cubicle culture is spot on.
Everything else on Judge's resume just really hasn't done it for me. I lost interest in "King of the Hill" after its first season. I was too young for "Beavis & Butthead," and his latest cartoon series, "The Goode Family," is just not entertaining.
Even still, the trailers for "Extract" have been fairly intriguing, and you would think that a moviegoer can't really go wrong with a cast that includes Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig and Ben Affleck.
Bateman plays the owner of an extract plant who tries to contend with a myriad of personal and professional problems such as his lackluster love life, a hot new temp (worker) and employees who only seem to want to take advantage of him.
Let me be the bearer of bad news. For those of you looking to see Mike Judge get back to the comedic excellence of "Office Space," you're going to be disappointed.
While this film is eons better than his previous film, "Idiocracy," it's still obvious that Judge still hasn't figured out how to write a well-structured narrative.
There are laughs, but I must have gone to this film with my expectations set too high, as the entire 90-minute runtime seemed very tame for an R-rated comedy.
Ben Affleck is truly the best part of the movie, as his turn as a stoner best friend is really the highlight of the film. All of the other characters just never let loose.
2 and a half buckets
