Mike Judge’s new movie, essentially an almost direct followup to Office Space, is a quirky and well-meaning comedy that strikes many of the right notes but in the end falls a bit flat and ends up with very little to show for it’s efforts. The film covers pretty familiar territory for Judge and as such doesn’t seem quite as fresh as perhaps it did when Office Space was released. The cast, with the notable exceptions of David Millgan as the male gigolo hired by Jason Bateman’s character to seduce his wife, the always awesome J.K. Simmons and, surprisingly, Ben Affleck as a helpful bartender and friend to Bateman’s character, are mostly relegated to sitcom level schtick and not given much else to do. And in the case of Mila Kunis, are simply the eye-candy — a role she plays very well, however.

Sure, many of the lines and situations in the film elicit a chuckle and in some cases, cause the viewer to laugh out loud, but those moment a few and far between. Instead, we’re left with many attempts at humor that fall flat and leave me to wonder what Judge was thinking. Some gags in the film are particularly overused — the “pushy neighbor” comes to mind — and result in not only being unfuny but annoying to the audience as well.

Continue Reading →

To many people, myself included, Mike Judge’s film Office Space makes me so happy I never had to get a “real” job and work in a soul-sucking office environment. Granted, I doubt my office experience would have ended quite the way the fictional one in the movie did, but I’m still glad never to have been the victim of an overbearing boss (who may have had sex with my girlfriend), a couple of so-called “efficiency experts” and corporate downsizing.

Office Space remains to this day one of the greatest tributes to the power of the individual striving against his (or her) corporate oppressors. And now, after some detours into other territory, Judge is back where he belongs and is bringing eager fans a brand new chapter in the struggle with his new film Extract — which also has a brand new website devoted to too.

For his new film, Judge returns to the workplace and turns his focus on a small business owner “who employs an odd cast of losers, loners and misfits in his flavor extract factory.” Judge is particularly excited to be back in the office. Says the director: “When Office Space tanked at the box office, I thought, ‘Okay, I was born to do something that nobody wants to see,’ and then as it became popular, it was more and more gratifying. So I think I’m finally back doing what I think I was born to do.”

Extract, which stars Jason Bateman, Mila Kunis, Kristen Wiig and Ben Affleck, hits theaters on September 4th. Meantime, be sure to check out all the info on the film and its unusual cast of characters at the film’s official site.