Miramax Films | 2009 | Rated R | 91 minutes

In 1999, Mike Judge released his small comedy about the workplace, OFFICE SPACE, that went on to become a cult classic, brilliantly and hilariously portraying disgruntled workers who were tired of merely being cubicle drones in their office and who were looking for any way to escape. With EXTRACT, Judge heads back to the workplace, but this time the story is being told from a reverse perspective, letting the audience see things from the eyes of the boss. EXTRACT follows the story of Joel (Jason Bateman), a young entrepreneur who translated a graduate degree in chemistry into a successful flavor extract business, Reynold Extracts, producing standards such as vanilla and cherry to the more exotic “cookies and cream” flavor that Joel is so proud of. Joel has worked countless hours to build his business into a success, and while he may now drive a seven-series BMW and live in a beautiful home, he finds that he has lost touch with his wife and is now frustrated since he normally can’t make it home before her 8 PM “no fooling around once the comfy sweatpants go on” rule. When a beautiful new temp, Cindy (Mila Kunis), starts working at the factory, Joel devises a scheme with his usually stoned confidant Dean (Ben Affleck) to hire a gigolo to sleep with his wife to allow him to freely pursue Cindy without any guilt. Joel soon learns though that plans made after a night of drinking and doing horse tranquilizers are normally not well thought out.

What is so great about Judge’s films is his ability to create relatable, “everyman” characters that have their own unique, and albeit sometimes flawed, idiosyncrasies that allow the tone of the dry humor that Judge infuses into each of his scripts to gradually build to the point of hilarity. EXTRACT is perfectly cast with Jason Bateman (“Arrested Development”) delivering a subtle performance with Joel that still has the audience sympathizing with him even though he is hatching out a pseudo DIAL M FOR MURDER plot against his wife. Bateman has impeccable comedic timing and never rushes any of his scenes, always gracious to let another actor in the scene receive the laugh while he plays the straight man. He creates an even-keeled Joel, who despite watching everything crumbling to pieces around him, never lets his performance swing over into anger, but instead keeps it focused solely on a repressed frustration that completely makes the movie. Had another actor of lesser talent tried to expand Joel beyond the boundaries of his frustration, many of the subtle overtones would have been lost. Bateman though is brilliant as always.

For the romantic interest in the film, Mila Kunis, best known for playing Jackie Burkhart for eight seasons on “That ’70s Show,” was a fantastic casting choice, bringing a complexity to her role as Cindy, that she was a perfect compliment to Bateman and the two played off of each other remarkably. Once again, Judge has written a character that has more going on beneath the surface than he allows to be seen on the screen, and Kunis perfectly conveyed this. It is apparent that Kunis has developed into not just a great comedic actress, but one with a dynamic range, and hopefully more directors will begin allowing her to explore larger roles in their pictures.

Judge has assembled an outstanding supporting cast that includes the amazing J.K. Simmons (SPIDER-MAN) as the manager of the plant, Brian, who can’t seem to remember any of his employees’ names, so instead just refers to each of them as “dinkus,” Kristen Wiig (“Saturday Night Live”) as Joel’s coupon designing wife Suzie, David Koechner (GET SMART) as the more than annoying, yet completely oblivious neighbor Nathan and Ben Affleck (GOOD WILL HUNTING) doing a hilarious turn as the druggie bartender friend of Joel. As always, Judge is able to find the comic potential in every single character that is on screen, never viewing any member of the supporting cast, any bit parts or any day players as less important to the tone of his films than the principals. In fact, some of the best lines of Judge’s always brilliant dialogue go to supporting cast members such as when Simmons is talking to Joel about one of the workers who has been at the plant for fourteen years, yet dryly asks, “Are we still talking about replacing her with a robot?” Even Gene Simmons, from the mega-group KISS, makes an incredibly funny cameo as the bus bench ad lawyer, Joe Adler, and is given great dialogue in his small scene.

The fact is, Judge has created a very funny film with EXTRACT. While its humor is a lot more subtle than other comedies this year such as THE HANGOVER, Judge returns to the heart of what made OFFICE SPACE so great ten years ago. He has created a film with likable characters who find themselves in the middle of a plot that begins to grow more and more out of control, allowing the comedy to then spring organically from the situation, letting the film feel more natural in the process, and not as if each scene is just a big set up for the next joke. Judge remembers that while a simple joke may be funny, it is the characters who will make the film memorable.

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