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EXTRACT

Mike Judge doesn’t have much of a track record with me. I never really liked Beavis & Butthead (blasphemous, I know), and aside from the theme song, the same can be said for King of the Hill. I look back at Office Space fondly, but I think it’s a nostalgia thing, and maybe based on its current cult status. The trailer for Extract did kind of impress me, so despite mixed buzz, I decided to see it. Well, it didn’t suck at all, but really, it’s more of a rental.

Written and directed by Judge, Extract tells the story of a slightly overwhelmed yet bored & frustrated extract (as in vanilla, etc) plant owner, and some of the struggles he deals with. The owner is played by Jason Bateman, who as always, is really good. His headaches come in the form of a great cast; his wife, Kristen Wiig; his friend, Ben Affleck; his second in command, JK Simmons, and a mysterious temp, Mila Kunis. Everybody does really well in their roles, but a surprising highlight came from Gene Simmons. When I saw his name in the opening credits, I groaned. No offense, but I kinda hate the guy. But he was pretty good as a greedy, conniving lawyer. Also very good is Clifton Colins Jr, who I’ll never forget used to go by Gonzalez Gonzalez, and that just seems weird to me.

I also think some of the characters very purposely resembled some of Judge’s animated characters. I’ll shut up now in case that’s a spoiler.

There are worse ways to spend $10 than going to see Extract, but it’s probably best as a rental. I just hope you get as much of a kick out of the line, “He’s probably the Jake E Lee of Fusion” as I did.

B

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