A Post That is Long Overdue....

I've been surprised at how busy college has kept me lately. I mean, it was expected, but I suppose my last two semesters have never hit the road running this hard so early in the school year. I am taking 17 credits, mainly due to my foreign language (a requirement for English majors) that lasts five days of the week, along with my 300-level Literary Criticism class where I have to write a 2-page response paper over a very dense reading for Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'm not asking to be pitied--I'm just trying to put into perspective why I have not been able to update as frequently as I'd like.

Anyways, the updates will come. Slowly, but surely, they will.

Tasteful Humor for "Extract

What is presumed to be the third in a trilogy of Mike Judge comedies (the first two being "Office Space" and "Idiocracy"), "Extract" brings together some of that working class, dealing with idiots, "I-hate-my-job" humor we saw in the cult classic "Office Space." But this film is not just a rehash of what we saw in 1999. Instead, we get to see things from the boss' perspective and the dense employees he must put up with.

"Extract" starts with Joel (Jason Bateman), an honest entrepreneur running his baking extract company while dealing with the headache his self-righteous, irrational employees cause him. His home life is anything but a sanctuary from the workplace where Joel meets sexual defeat when his wife (played by Kristen Wiig) tightens those sweat pants that aren't coming off for the rest of the evening. Bateman does a great job showing the frustration bottling up inside of Joel, just like the bottles of almond extract filled in the factory (if they don't fall off the conveyor belt!). The movie is definitely a character-driven plot and it works because the characters are so memorable and realistically white trash. J.K. Simmons, although once again the careless, dry, and sarcastic mentor-figure, was a pleasure to watch rag on the employees who's names he replaces with "Boy Genius" and "Dinkus." I was also pleased to see Mila Kunis (last seen as Jason Segel's love interest in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall) back, but this time as the con artist who begins working at Reynold's Extract to get in on a million dollar lawsuit. Ben Affleck, who I'm normally not too fond of, pulled off a great boneheaded best friend to Bateman who happens to be hyped up on drugs half the time. Even members of the unknown supporting cast really pulled everything together: the gossipy middle-aged women accusing everyone of doing wrong or stealing from them, the dopey Step who endures a rather unfortunate severing below the belt, the annoyingly talkative next door neighbor, and Brad the gigolo, who unwittingly falls in love with Bateman's wife. Perhaps the strangest casting choice was Gene Simmons as a lawyer, but the character was supposed to be a theatrical buffoon, so it worked out.

What I really liked about this movie was its ability to pull off the miserable vibes played in "Office Space" while moving into a completely new region of the work comedy territory. There's a nice balance between Bateman's home and work life, where both places seem to be falling apart. The only place he can turn to is the bar, where Affleck works, and receive idiotic ideas on how he can attempt to fix his problems. The plot is formulaic, but it still retained little surprises that satisfied the palate. It was constructed well, holding the audience's attention with Kunis' cunning manipulation. She becomes the inspiration for Bateman's desire to exit his empy marriage, which in turn only twists the already bunched up problems in his life. I kind of wanted a little more interaction between the two, but the film worked well without it.

Again, if not for anything else, "Extract" is worth watching for the characters that are surprisingly accurate representations of people you've seen or met. I felt this might've been a tad bit better than "Office Space" primarily due to the tour-de-force of the cast and the dynamic scenarios that challenge the characters throughout the entire film. Just like the title suggests, "Extract" definitely carries that extra flavor of enjoyment.

BOTTOM LINE: I don't know if I'm going to place it in my Top 5 movies of the year, but "Extract" does deliver a fresh batch of funny characters that leaves you with a good taste in your mouth.

PROS:
1. Brad the gigolo -- This blonde airhead was so amazingly stupid that I think he stole every scene he was in.
2. Jason Bateman -- He gave a lot to this role.
3. Lidiea & Gabriella -- The two chatty-Cathy's working the conveyor belt with a little bit of curious racism. They're usually the source of the problems in the plant because they refuse to do their job if they see someone else not doing theirs.
4. Ben Affleck as a stoner -- Following the steps of comedic revival like Tom Cruise, Affleck does this side-character some justice.
5. White trash -- Yep. There's a lot of it. And it's funny if you've been around these people before.
6. Nathan the annoying neighbor -- Everyone has met this guy.

CONS:
1. Kind of like with "Office Space," I was left wanting more.
2. Some of the decisions Bateman makes might not go over well with a more moral audience. But it's sort of justified with the fact that he was slipped horse tranquilizers.

RATING:

1/2 OUT OF 5