We humans love prettiness. It’s the only reason most supermodels
aren’t homeless, and it’s why we pay attention to TV anchors and don’t
generally murder kittens.
Mike Judge’s new movie, Extract, is acutely aware and vaguely
resentful of this fact. Its sympathetic leads (Jason Bateman and
Kristen Wiig) are average-looking, but they are bedeviled by pretty
people, who are all either evil (Mila Kunis) or stupid (Dustin
Milligan).
Jason Bateman plays Joel, a wealthy sad-sack whose wife won’t engage
in traditional marital actions with him. This saddens Joel, as the only
other thing in his life is his unrewarding job as the boss of a tiny
group of low-SAT-scoring factory employees.
At night, Joel goes to a local bar to complain about his wife’s
refusal to love him in an adult manner. The bartender, his old pal Dean
(Ben Affleck, surprisingly), accidentally gives Joel some horse
tranquilizers, and then, thinking it will give Joel license to have an
affair, the two hire a male prostitute to sleep with Joel’s wife.
That’s the kind of thing that’s too far-fetched to happen in real life,
but that’s OK: We don’t pay 10 bucks to sit in the dark and stare at
real life.
The next morning, Joel wakes up and vaguely remembers hiring the
man-whore, but it’s too late to stop such a brilliant plan, and Joel’s
formerly asexual wife, Suzie (Wiig), starts plowing the low-IQ gigolo
(Milligan) like he’s the back 40, and it’s planting time. Or so it
appears; the gigolo has the kind of hot man-cuteness that often comes
with an extra helping of stupid, so it’s possible that he’s been
accidentally doing the neighbor’s wife.
Anyway, the whole plotline reeks of comedy-movie logic, as does the
second major theme of the film: Incompetence on the factory production
line leads to a Rube Goldberg-esque series of events which ends when a
bolt passes through the scrotum of Step (Clifton Collins Jr.), one of
the factory floor workers. That’s when beauty appears in the form of
pure evil: A grifter named Cindy (Kunis) finds Step and convinces him
to sue the company into bankruptcy. Though this has Standard Comedy
Plot Element written all over it, it pays off in laughs when Gene
Simmons of Kiss, playing ambulance-chasing lawyer Joe Adler, arrives in
a halo of hairspray as the champion of all damaged testicles
everywhere.
The rest of the story elements in Extract aren’t much better,
and the movie suffers from its inherent sitcom silliness, as well as
from a painfully neat ending that ties everything up in a bow and
covers it with sugar sprinkles. But Extract isn’t a terrible
film; it’s just a flawed one.
Judge’s dialogue is, as always, excellent, even when spoken by the
likes of Ben Affleck. And Jason Bateman can really nail down the
beleaguered everyman part. He uses his great assortment of low-key
comedy expressions here like he did in Arrested Development; in
fact, he’s playing nearly the same role. The real surprise, though, is
Wiig, who’s mostly done funny, one-note bits in a sketch-comedy style.
In Extract, she seems like a real human being, and shows the
potential to do more serious acting. Unfortunately, her part is fairly
tiny; Judge gives most of the meat to Bateman. Too bad; it looks like
she could have carried the film, or at least successfully played a more
fleshed-out role.
Still, Extract is very watchable and occasionally excellent.
Judge is one of the few directors who understand how ridiculous
soundtrack music is, and in Extract, he uses that for comic
effect. Emotive piano music swells up when Brad the gigolo speaks of
love, and triumphant fanfares blare during uninspired motivational
speeches.
Plus, there’s a charming lack of attention to minor continuity
elements. As the camera cuts back and forth while filming
conversations, hair jumps from place to place, a hand appears and
disappears at the edge of the screen, and the strap of a purse
teleports about on Wiig’s shoulder. It’s nice to know that money that
could have been spent micro-measuring the movement of a shirt tail was
instead used to pay Gene Simmons to shout at the camera.
So I can recommend it with reservations. It’s a disappointment for
those expecting another Office Space, but with Wiig’s strong
work, Bateman’s pained expressions and Judge’s acute sense of dialogue,
Extract is decent, if not cult material.
This article appears in Sep 10-16, 2009.