Extract

I'm a huge fan of Mike Judge's earlier live action work (Office Space, Idiocracy) so I was looking forward to seeing Extract. However, I think my love of the earlier work caused me to feel somewhat disappointed by Extract. The former films had specific satirical targets they were aiming at and, while they had devastatingly accurate portrayals of the mind-dumbing banality of everyday existence, existed in a kind of hyper reality (particularly in the case of Idiocracy) which allowed them to pointedly skewer their intended victims. Extract on the other hand is more of an observational character study that didn't appear, at least on first viewing, to have any particular satirical aim. The shift in tone really threw me as I kept waiting for it to change into something more akin to Judge's other work and as a result I hesitate to pass final judgement until I see it again, hopefully able to better evaluate it on its own merits.

That said the film has an affable charm, and Jason Bateman (playing a variation of his character from Arrested Development - not a bad thing) makes an engaging lead presence. I do think the film suffers from a lack of focus, and there are several story elements (in particular Gene Simmon's character, and how the film deals with the subplot revolving around Mila Kunis) that at best feel thin, and at worst don't work at all. At the moment I would say while the film is worth watching, and did cause to me laugh out loud at times, its probably the weakest of Judge's three films to date. Still for aforementioned reasons I'd consider its grade an incomplete and I look forward to revisiting it in the future.