Factory Boy

I strongly dislike – I don’t want to say hate – to be disappointed by movies, and I hat…uhh…strongly dislike that Extract, Mike Judge’s latest, let me down because I really thought it was going to be funner, and because I wanted better for its star, Jason Bateman.

I’d waited a long time to see Extract, and I’m sad to say it didn’t overwhelm me. I enjoyed it just fine – but that’s kinda not what I thought it was aiming for, y’ know.

Mostly, I feel like the movie had some weird edits, especially in the beginning, with things happening off camera but getting mentioned on, that kinda sort of don’t help the fact that some of the characters are underwritten.

The workplace comedy tells the story of Joel (Bateman, doing a variation of his Michael Bluth shtick, which I do adore), the owner of a flavored extract factory who has to oversee a misanthropic band of misfits, like Beth Grant, who plays a whiny line worker; or J.K. Simmons, who’s just great as Joel’s doesn’t-know-anyone’s-name right hand; or Clifton Collins Jr., who balances the right mix of manic and ambitious as a well-meaning floor manager wannabe.

It must be said that Joel’s a desperate dude.

Wrangling the peeps at work leaves him spent at the end of the day, but lest you start thinking his home life is a walk in the park, I give you the truth: it ain’t.

After a long day at the factory, which has afforded him a very nice living, btw, he goes home to Suzie, his indifferent works-from-home wife (SNL’s Kristen Wiig) who tightens her sweatpants at 8 p.m. every day (i.e., closes the nookie shop), sending a frustrated Joel to the bar where he used to work to commiserate with Dean, an ol’ friend played by Ben Affleck in a scraggly wig.

Fed up, Joel decides to sell the company, and return the flirtations of Cindy, a new temp played by Mila Kunis…only after he has set up a bumbling gigolo (Dustin Milligan from TV’s 90210) to seduce Suzie. (Oh, and about that comment I made about some of the characters being underwritten: Cindy’s an example. Yeah, she’s a t--ef on wheels, but c’mon, Mike Judge, Kunis is billed second in the credits, and that’s all you gave her to do?)

You know, to absolve his own guilt – a plan that, of course, backfires on him more than a dozen times.

Extract has its moments, but not enough for me to say you should def go see it.

If you’re looking to see Bateman on the big screen, though, where he sooo clearly belongs, then yeah, by all means, go see this movie. You will laugh. And, best of all, you’ll get your Bateman fix.

Me, I’ll just re-watch his far more thoroughly enjoyable appearance on Letterman from earlier this week .

My Rating **

Photo: Miramax Films.