the Rice Thresher

Issue date: 9/11/09 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: Courtesy Miramax Films J.K. Simmons (left) and Jason Bateman (right) get serious in Extract.

When peering into the blue-collar workplace, Mike Judge's Office Space is at the top of the paper heap. Judge brings his comedic intelligence back to the stack in his latest movie, Extract, focusing on the owner of a food extract company in Podunk, U.S.A. in this smart and smarmy satire.

While Extract is unable to live up to its iconic predecessor - and may not have the cultural impact of Milton's stapler- that doesn't mean that it is not worth the cost of admission. A strong cast combines with an original and realistic plot, allowing Extract to be the intelligent comedy that will fill the current vacuum.

Jason Bateman (Arrested Development) plays Joel, the sex-deprived owner of Reynold's Extract Company. Ready to sell the company he started from scratch, Joel is within reach of retirement when a freak accident at work leaves one of his workers without a testicle and with the ability to sue the company for millions.

To make matters worse, Joel's frustration with his sexless marriage causes him to develop an attraction to Cindy (Max Payne's Mila Kunis), the factory temp. While Cindy has plans of her own, the obvious mutual attraction does inspire some hilarious antics, on Joel's part, to motivate him to cheat on his wife. A lesson learned from this film: When you are high on horse tranquilizers, it becomes logical to hire a gigolo to seduce your wife, so that then you can go have sex with someone else without guilt.

Bateman and Kunis help lead the movie, but it is with the supporting cast that the film really succeeds. J.K. Simmons (I Love You, Man) sets up as the assistant manager who does not know the workers' names and instead refers to them as "Dinkus," and the hardly-recognizable Ben Affleck (State of Play) comes in as the drug-peddling best friend who has someone to call for every situation. Both Simmons and Affleck steal their scenes, but the best supporting character goes to another Simmons - Gene Simmons (The New Guy).

Flapping tongue left at home, Gene Simmons plays the lawyer Joe Adler, who only gets the business of Step (Star Trek's Clifton Collins Jr.) - the one-testicled victim of the freak accident - because of his bus stop advertisements. While only appearing in the movie some 10 minutes, Simmons is able to provide the film's most memorable moments - such as repeatedly reminding Joel that the only situation in which his client will settle is if he could smash Bateman's own balls in the door - and adds inarguable flavor to the movie.

Overall, the plot of Extract remains true to the spirit of Office Space. While Office Space provided a look into the life of desk workers, Extract offers insight into the life of the management. However, the workers in Office Space had some brains; the people who work at Reynold's Extract are downright moronic. Thus, the audience ends up sympathizing with Bateman more than they did Gary Cole, Office Space's manager.

In general, the humor of Extract provides the audience with an intelligent comedy - meaning there probably won't be an unrated version that comes out on DVD - and an all-star cast, guaranteed to offer its audience an hour and a half of forgetting if they e-mailed the correct cover sheet to their boss.

To watch the trailer and learn more about Extract, visit the website at
www.extract-the-movie.com/home.

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