Review of Extract (2009) by William F — 14 Jul 2010

If this review were based on the movie trailer and not the movie itself, Extract -- and not The Hangover - would be heralded as the laugh-riot of the year. It goes beyond epitomizing that old cliché: "the best parts of the movie were in the trailer." The preview simply makes the whole she-bang seem a whole lot funnier than it actually is, which is a pat on the back for the trailer's editors...and also somewhat of an untruth in advertising. The reel deal is that Extract was not what your reviewer was expecting, which was a knee-slapping raucous comedy along the lines of Superbad. It is a more muted comedy, rife with more observational humor as opposed to bust-a-gut outrageous bits. While the director does a phenomenal job of portraying blue collar versus white collar America, his comedy comes on like a lamb when, perhaps, moviegoers were expecting a lion.

In this R-rated comedy from Mike Judge (Office Space), a flower plant extract owner (Bateman) deals with workplace issues and a string of bad luck, including his wife's (Kristen Wiig) affair with a gigolo.

If Jason Bateman were a salesman, your reviewer might very well own the Brooklyn Bridge. Every knee-jerk reaction that nice-guy Bateman pulls out of his bag of tricks is wholly believable-from backpedaling from a neighbor to apologizing to the woman who screwed him over. The rest of the cast (especially Ben Affleck, in another great supporting turn) hit their marks and remember the lines for set-ups that elicit more chuckles than guffaws.

Bottom line: Waste of office space.