Extract

Mike Judge loves to hate the workplace. With his new film “Extract,” the writer/director (“Office Space,” “King of the Hill”) serves up his signature dish of nine-to-five disenchantment with a hearty helping of general human stupidity. Unfortunately, somewhere in the mix, Judge forgot a vital step of the recipe, and instead of an understated cult classic a la “Office Space,” we’re teased with a film that could have been delicious but now just tastes undercooked.

“Extract” stars Jason Bateman (“Arrested Development”) as Joel, the CEO of a successful extract-making company called Reynold’s. Joel has a BMW, a beautiful home, and an offer from General Mills to buy his company, but alas, none of this matters to Joel; he’s mostly concerned about not getting laid. His wife Suzie (Kristen Wiig of “Saturday Night Live”) is thoroughly disinterested in her career, her marriage, and her sex life. This leads Joel to masturbate in shame nightly, often followed by a good cry as he bemoans his situation to his friend/bartender/drug dealer Dean, played by a very hairy Ben Affleck. Dean is what most well-minded people fear most: a stupid man in the position to influence the actions of at least one important person. In the midst of mistakenly giving Joel horse tranquilizers and advising him to cheat on his wife with hot new temp Cindy (Mila Kunis, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”), Dean convinces Joel to hire a gigolo to seduce Suzie in order to lessen his guilt about his own planned indescretion. Heavily drugged, Joel agrees to the sexual hire, not knowing that the girl he’s aiming to cheat with is, in fact, a con artist manipulating his underlings in order to bankrupt Reynold’s. Couple this with the threat of a strike from his array of imbecile employees, and Joel’s life becomes a colorful assortment of comedic fruit.

Despite the presence of acclaimed actors like Bateman, Wiig, and J.K. Simmons, the film is stolen by the pimp-and-gigolo team of Dean and his Brad (Dustin Milligan of “90210”). The first 30 minutes are held together by the stringy threads of Affleck’s beard. His balancing act of caring friend and self-interested opportunist creates a comedic rhythm that carries the film. And just when the comedic burden of the movie becomes too much for Dean, in walks Brad the gigolo. Brad’s simpleton nature (he ditched a career in landscaping because he prefers round-the-clock sex) creates the most plausible character M.O. of the film. Milligan’s performance of borderline mental retardation in the body of an Adonis is surprisingly touching. Despite the fact that he has slept with Joel’s wife numerous times, even Joel can’t help but feel sorry for him when Suzie refuses to return his affection. Like a dog, Brad certainly knows better, but he’s also this movie’s best friend.

Such over-the-top hijinks are appropriate for well-placed minor characters like Brad and Dean, but they can’t make a central protagonist, and this is where the movie falls apart. Peter Gibbons—the programming anti-hero of “Office Space”—worked as a character because his depression and desperation perfectly highlighted the suffocating workplace tedium in which he lived. Joel, by contrast, simply comes off as whiny; there seems to be a gaping disconnect between his actual problems and his emotional priorities. As his company barrels toward financial ruin, Joel’s complaints about his lackluster sex life seem utterly removed from anything that should matter.

The real dissatisfaction comes at the end of the movie when it becomes clear that the characters don’t change or learn from their experiences. Joel’s happiness is briefly touched on in his final managerial decision, but what about his marriage, Cindy’s swindling, or the workers’ general ineptitude? In the end, Judge gives his characters one collective “get out of jail free” card, freeing them from their messy mishaps. This superficial resolution fails to pull together the film, breaking it as a result. Though “Extract” does provide its fair share of funny moments, the film is like a sloppily-mixed batch of cake batter. The sugar chunks taste good, but it’s not exactly Carvel.

—Staff writer Jessica O. Matthews can be reached at jmatthew@fas.harvard.edu.