TheRetroCritic

Here's one I missed upon its release. Dunno why, maybe because it was boringly called " Extract ". From Mike Judge, the director of Office Space and Idiocracy , comes this random comedy about an extract factory and how the arrival of a con-woman, played by Mila Kunis, starts screwing things up for the people working there. Jason Bateman plays the owner who not only has to deal with whatever marital problems he's got (his wife is played forgettably by Kristen Wiig) but an unfortunate testicle-related accident that happens to one of his workers leading to the threat of being sued and, of course, Kunis' distracting meddling. Meanwhile, you've got Ben Affleck as a bad-advice-giving stoner bar tender, J.K. Simmons in a fun but underdeveloped role and David Koechner as an annoying neighbour. Extract really is full of those typically quirky Mike Judge characters and some of them do provide some good jokes throughout the film. The problem is the film itself. B

Directed by Mike Judge and based on his own short cartoon series Milton , Office Space pre-dated The Office by a couple of years and although it kinda flew by unnoticed upon its original release, it eventually earned a deserved cult status. The film pokes fun at dull office settings and the ridiculous hierarchy and false urgency that these working environments can have while paying homage to Milton and telling its own Superman III -inspired plot. Ron Livingston plays a stressed-out guy who hates his life and just wishes he could simply sit back and do nothing. After a hypnotist mistakenly renders him perpetually laid-back and worry-free, he turns his life upside down and starts rebelling fully against the people that have been holding him back and his whole stagnant existence in general. He starts ignoring his boss, a show-stealing, mug-holding Gary Cole, he asks out Jennifer Aniston's waitress, and decides to jeopardise his tempting new job offer in order to help his soon-t