Rating: 8/10

Writer/Director: Mike Judge
Cast: Jason Bateman, J.K. Simmons, Kristen Wiig, Mila Kunis
Studio: Miramax Films

Mike Judge’s OFFICE SPACE is a deceptively clever film with a simple premise about a regular guy finally getting the courage to decide he is not going to take the bullshit anymore, namely when it comes to his soul-crushing job and cheating girlfriend – and it worked. Ten years after it was released, OFFICE SPACE is still a very quotable film with jokes that have stood up nicely. Those seeing Mike Judge’s latest, EXTRACT, out of their love for OFFICE SPACE should be satisfied, if not amazed, with the film, as EXTRACT is similar to OFFICE SPACE in many of the same ways that made OFFICE SPACE so memorable.

Like OFFICE SPACE’s protagonist Peter Gibbons, EXTRACT’s leading man Joel (Jason Bateman) seems to have become bored with his daily life. However, whereas Peter desired a change because he knew what he had in the areas of career and romance weren’t enough to make him happy, Joel has a great job and is married to a woman that he loves. Joel is the owner of a extract company (extracting being something that used to really excite Joel), but it seems that the daily grind of being the boss has made Joel lose his desire for his work. Also, while Joel still loves his wife, it’s clear that the marriage has become stale with routine.

Joel thinks he has found the solution to his current state of unhappiness when he decides to sell his company for a very large sum of money that will make him set for life, taking away the stresses brought on by his job. However, a freak workplace accident severely hurts his chances of selling his company and getting on easy street. Also, Joel’s marriage goes from safe but lacking excitement to depressing and painful, as Joel lets his stoner bartender friend Dean (played by Ben Affleck, yeah, I can’t imagine how that happened either, but somehow Affleck pulls it off) talk him into testing his wife’s loyalties.

Judge shows the same comedic strengths he exhibited in OFFICE SPACE with EXTRACT, including getting laughs out of the uncomfortable – Joel’s daily run-ins with an annoying neighbor definitely falls into this category. Judge also offers many characters that come with built-in punchlines, such as the company’s number two in charge (J.K. Simmons), who cannot remember any of the factory employees’ names, so he just call them all “dingus.” The unpleasant situations Joel finds himself in, as well as the quirky characters of EXTRACT, give the audience a fair amount to laugh at and with.

Eventually, after things are almost too screwed up to repair, Joel has an epiphany. This realization is essentially the main theme of EXTRACT. You can’t sell or trick your problems away, you have to deal with them, and a lot of times that means you need to change. In this case, that would mean actually caring about those things that used to be important to you again.

There is a message to EXTRACT and it is a valid one, but thankfully it never makes the film seem too preachy or self-important. Most of the time spent watching EXTRACT consists of laughing at comically awkward moments and having fun with the film’s off-beat characters, just like with OFFICE SPACE.