Release Date:  September 4, 2009
Rating:  R (for language, sexual references and some drug use)
Genre:  Comedy
Run Time:  91 min.
Director:  Mike Judge
Actors:  Jason Bateman, Mila Kunis, Kristin Wiig, Ben Affleck, J.K. Simmons, Clifton Collins Jr., Dustin Milligan, David Koechner, Beth Grant, Gene Simmons

The TV creations of writer/director Mike Judge—Beavis and Butt-Head, King of the Hill—are, for better or worse, late twentieth-century milestones in American culture, and Judge's talent for capturing the cultural zeitgeist has occasionally transcended the small screen. Who hasn't shared the frustration with the office fax machine, or with an annoying boss, endured by the lead character in Judge's big-screen comedy Office Space?

Judge is back with Extract, his first film since the little seen Idiocracy in 2006. That film played in only a handful of theaters, whereas Extract is opening across the country for Labor Day weekend—a fitting time for another Judge comedy set in the workplace.

Jason Bateman stars as Joel, owner of Extract, a flavor-extract company on the verge of being acquired by General Mills. The eccentric group of employees who work for Joel include Mary (Beth Grant), a busybody who doesn't hesitate to badmouth her co-workers; Hector (Javier Gutiérrez), the quiet object of Mary's contempt and suspicions; Rory (T.J. Miller), a heavy-metal fan; Step (Clifton Collins Jr.), the victim of a workplace accident that threatens to derail the General Mills deal; and Cindy (Mila Kunis), a thief looking to take advantage of Step and thereby cash in on any potential lawsuit he might bring against the company.

The tics and mannerisms of the Extract employees are mildly amusing, but it's Joel's life outside of work that generates most of the laughs in Extract. However, a warning: The film centers on a troubled marriage and an adulterous affair—not the usual stuff of family comedy. The couple works through its troubles, but the price paid is steep.

Here's what happens. Joel, feeling sexually deprived by his wife, Suzie (Kristen Wiig), takes the advice of his bartender friend, Dean (Ben Affleck, in a low-key, very funny performance), and hires a gigolo to seduce Suzie. That way Joel will feel justified in having an affair of his own. "What could be wrong about that?" Dean asks, rhetorically. "She's the one who sinned."

It's a twisted idea—fueled by alcohol, prescription drug abuse and marijuana—that Joel comes to regret when the gigolo (Dustin Milligan) falls in love with Suzie and keeps showing up at Joel's house, unable to limit his encounters with Joel's wife. Joel pursues Cindy but soon discovers her plot. He tries to warn Step that her false affections disguise her true intentions, and to somehow save the company from ruin.