September 7, 2009
Review: Extract
Mike Judge: Coolest Boss Ever?
Extract is no Office Space, nor is it meant to be. In his New York Times interview, Mike Judge admits that Extract reflects his own shift from lowly temp to manager of his own successful enterprise. Thus, in deliberate opposition to the pro-worker stance of Office Space, he's made a boss-man the hero of Extract.
Why choose an extract factory as the setting? Because Mike Judge happens to like extract. He is also adamantly opposed to Hollywood's usual practice of only showing glamorous, high-paying jobs. Yet another reason why he's awesome.
Dean "helps" Joel.
The movie follows hapless boss Joel (Jason Bateman) as he deals with his employees, his estranged wife Suzie (Kristin Wiig), and a hot con artist named Cindy (Mila Kunis). One night Joel's helpful friend Dean (Ben Affleck) slips him some ketamine, setting in motion a loopy domestic farce. Meanwhile, back at the factory a worker named Step (Clifton Collins Jr.) loses a testicle in a freak accident and threatens to sue, and manager Brian (J.K. Simmons) refuses to learn any of the employees' names, preferring to call all of them "dinkus".
Watching this movie, I finally understood why some people can't watch The Office. There were moments (e.g. Joel having to explain something three times to a given worker) when I was wincing rather than laughing because the situation was just too damned familiar. Other than that, I thought the movie was really funny.
Joel reasons with Step.
And here's why I love Mike Judge: as effectively as he portrays incompetence, he still seems to like these people. As he says in the interview: "Here the employees are the bad -- well, not really the bad guys but the annoying guys." I admire Judge's ability to separate incompetence from evil. I don't really get it, mind you, but I suppose it's good for me to see someone intelligent advocating compassion for a change.
Despite its so-so critical reception, this is a solidly entertaining movie. I think many people are confused by the low-key nature of Judge's comedies. These days audiences only seem to want Hangover-style humor, which goes for raucous laughs every minute. Judge has always been better at the slow burn, specializing in humor with a meditative quality. It's observational, good-natured, and yes, pragmatic in a way that even Judd Apatow can't beat.
