Extract

Starring: Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Mila Kunis and Ben Affleck. Directed by Mike Judge

Extract is the story of a man, Jason Bateman, trapped in a sexless marriage and an owner of a business he longs to sell so he can escape the routine his life has become.

If you want to see a Mike Judge movie that is well cast, well written and funny watch Office Space and avoid Extract. Extract is a bunch of scenes that are thrown together with a plot that never goes anywhere. Bateman's character Joel avoids conflict in every scene and allows every person he comes into contact with to dictate his responses. I found his character hard to root for and deserved every bad thing that happened to him throughout the movie. Even in the end he didn't resolve any of the problems that plagued him in the beginning. He just seem to resolved to continue going through the motions. I kept hoping he would go through the metamorphasis Ron Livingston's character Peter went through in Office Space and take charge of his life. Instead he just made bad decisions that backfire and in turn no fun ensues.

Kristen Wiig and Mila Kunis are good characters in other movies, but in Extract they are poorly used and their characters only hurt Joel and make him look more pathetic. My least favorite character is Ben Affleck's Dean, Joel's bartender/sage that helps him get into multiple unfortunate situations. Dean is a poor imitation of Diedrich Bader's character Lawrence in Office Space. Lawrence was funny and whose advice helped ground Peter. I did not find Dean entertaining and found Affelck's performance uninspired. There were certain scenes in the bar where Dean and Joel were talking and the lines he was saying were funny but his performance was so without feeling they just fell flat.

If I hadn't seen Land of the Lost I would say that Extract is the worst comedy of 2009.