Eye Candy #213 - "Extract"

Extract:  The latest from Mike Judge, about a small factory that makes food flavoring. Run by the under-sexed Joel (Jason Bateman, in a fairly similar role to Michael Bluth from “Arrested Development”), it’s on the verge of being acquired by a larger company. So he’s juggling the acquisition, his wife’s lack of sex drive, and the temptation of the new temp who may be more than she appears (Mila Kunis). Ben Affleck is playing the Diedrich Bader role from “Office Space” of “friend with morally loose conscience”. For a comedy…I laughed very little. Thematically, it felt a lot like “Election” with Matthew Broderick. Bateman was fine, but it didn’t push the envelope. Kristin Wiig is wasted as Bateman’s philandering wife. The supporting cast includes J.K. Simmons and Gene Simmons and a rare surfacing of Matt Schulze, but doesn’t have any real memorable characters like Milton I’m beginning to worry about Judge. Granted, “Office Space” is an exceptional film and it’s not reasonable to think all his films will be up to the same level. But “Extract” feels forced, and between this and “Idiocracy”, comedies devoid of laughs aren’t good comedies. Woodchuck sez, “Skip it.”