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Judge has a true talent when it comes to bringing these very real and relatable characters to life on the big screen.

Extract is the story of Joel (Jason Bateman), the young owner and manager of an extract factory.  Despite the fact that Joel has made a successful life out of the spice business, he finds himself stuck in a rut where the spice of life has all but faded away.  Dealing with his employees has become routine and is wearing him down.  The intimacy between him and his wife (played by Kristen Wigg) has withered to just a memory due to his daily failure to get home before eight o’ clock which usually heralds Wigg’s donning of the feared SWEAT PANTS!  This means that Joel spends most of his time at the local hotel bar where his friend, Dean (Ben Affleck), works and doles out advice that maybe hurts more than it helps.

As it turns out, a major food company has expressed interest in buying out the factory.  This could set Joel up for life, but it’s not long before this deal is in danger of being derailed due to a freak accident at the factory resulting in the injury of long time employee, Step (Clifton Collins Jr. - Star Trek and cult favorite of mine The Stoned Age).  The accident (and settlement info) makes the front page of the newspaper where it garners the attention of Cindy (Mila Kunis), a young grifter looking for a new way to make some easy cash.  In an effort to take advantage of Step’s unique position and milk the company for more money, Cindy gets a job at the factory.  Little does she know that while she tries to find a way to secretly make contact with Step, she has also caught Joel’s eye.  Convinced that Cindy has a thing for him, Joel must decide whether or not to break from the norm and pursue her or stick to the status quo.

Much like Mike Judge’s previous film, Office Space, this movie comes off very understated and thoughtful.  Not just thoughtful concerning the overall plot… but also concerning the characters.  Extract gives us a delightful collection of players who all feel very genuine and real.  These are people you know in your everyday life.  You work with them.  You drink with them.  One of these types might even be your best friend.  There’s no denying that Judge has a true talent when it comes to bringing these very real and relatable characters to life on the big screen.  Hell, the fact that he set this film in an extract factory instead of an advertising office or a law firm proves that the man has a creative mind based on something a little more “real” than your average Hollywood comedy writers who seem to worship at the altar of “the wheel o’ typical plot devices”.  These are all finely crafted and fleshed out roles and were a joy to watch.

It’s interesting for me to look back on the films of Mike Judge.  They each seem to have one very key aspect in common.  No, I’m not talking about the fact that both Office Space and Extract seem to be based mostly in the workplace.  And yes… Idiocracy has something in common with the other two.  While Office Space can be easily summarized as “a satire aimed at the workplace”, there’s something else going on there.  Peter is hypnotized to live a stress-free life.  He takes control of his destiny and becomes independent thus finding fulfillment.  Some would call Idiocracy “a satire aimed at consumerism” and nothing more.  But think about how our protagonist, Joe, decides to help society.  He teaches them to discover life and not just buy this or buy that simply because the commercial says so. To stop following the leader and blaze their own trail in life.  And now we have Extract which… yet again… tells the story about a man who feels stuck in life and is trying to break free.  When you get past “Do you have my stapler?” and “It has the electrolytes that plants crave” you find that Mike Judge really does have something worthwhile and deep happening below the surface of these films. 

Is Extract a perfect movie?  No.  But it’s an entertaining and wickedly funny reflection on the human condition when someone who feels stale thinks that he’s suddenly presented with new and exciting options and how far he will go to fix the stupid mistakes that he knew he was going to make.

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