Funny And Quirky, Extract Makes For A Worthwhile Diversion!

The Good: Good acting, Very funny, Moments that are clever
The Bad: A lot of very obvious humor, Light on character development.
The Basics: A surprisingly decent film, the short Extract is worth seeing for anyone who likes zany humor presented by a great cast.


It is a good time to be David Koechner, at least in my house. The character actor is in a boatload of my wife's DVDs and it seems like whenever I take her out to the movies, he is in them lately (whatwith my wife’s love of screwball, often idiotic, comedies). He had an oddly homophobic (literally) role in The Goods: Live Hard Sell Hard which we saw just a few weeks ago. He now pops up in Extract, the new film by Mike Judge and it is easy to see why he continues to get work.

Koechner is a steady supporting actor who has an amazing ability to play off virtually any other actor. He always seems to have such earnest, eye-popping deliveries of his line (he is often given over-the-top moments to perform and he plays them brilliantly by usually understating them, so if the moment calls for an absolutely absurd line, he says it as if it were the most obvious matter-of-fact statement, etc.) and in Extract, he continues that tradition as Nathan. And every scene he is in with Jason Bateman's Joel, Koechner steals the scene.

Joel owns an extract company and he returns home from it each night hoping to score with his wife. More often than not, he is held up by his neighbor, Nathan, for pointless conversations that waste his time and he finds his wife not in the mood. So, he returns to work the next day trying to get out of the humdrum life he finds himself in. Unfortunately, when one of his workers is partially-castrated as part of a work-related accident, Joel finds his company is in serious trouble. Things do not get better for him at work with the arrival of con-artist Cindy, whom he takes an instant shine to. Neither do things get better for him at home when he allows his bartender friend Dean to hook him up with some drugs and a witless plan to get his wife, Suzie, to cheat.

As Step sues Reynolds Extract, Joel tries to get the business in line for a sale so he can get out while the getting is still good enough. As Dean's plan to test his wife's faithfulness (or lack thereof) is put into motion with the help of a gigolo, Joel tries to avoid being scammed by Cindy and still considers her for an affair. As his business and personal lives crumble, Joel begins to slip into morally murky territory and he struggles to solve his problems in all of the worst ways.

In many ways, Extract is a pretty standard slapstick/gross-out humor film filled with one-liners and abrupt character turns that are either painful or leave the viewer groaning for how stupidly the character is acting. What brings this particular movie up is that it is actually funny and the caliber of the acting. Joel may be a morally problematic character, but he is well-played by Jason Bateman who manages to do more with the role than simply stare blank-faced and look dumfounded by the changes in circumstance surrounding him. In other words, Bateman delivers a funny performance that is not simply a recapture of his role from Arrested Development.

As well, Extract has a number of funny lines and some great cameos. Following losing a testicle, Step's appearances are often accompanied by his lawyer, Joe. Joe is played by rocker Gene Simmons and his ability to deadpan is surprisingly deft. He plays the lawyer - whose threat menace Reynolds Extract - who represents Step in his workplace accident and his performance raises the caliber of his scene to something more than just a collection of lost balls jokes. Simmons holds his own in a pretty fabulous cast.

Similarly, Mila Kunis and Kristen Wiig once again prove they are more than just hot bodies on screen. Kunis plays Cindy with an understated ruthlessness that make her the ultimate con artist. For sure, Cindy uses sex appeal often to get what she wants, but through the course of Extract, Kunis is required to do more than just look good and she holds that up admirably. Put in some of the film's scenes that include the funniest lines, she remains wonderfully pokerfaced. Similarly, Wiig gives a supporting performance that allows her to use some charm and reveal her great sense of timing to get the most out of some lines that have only mediocre inherent humor.

Even so, writer and director Mike Judge does a good job of translating to screen an offbeat situation told with some deliciously specific writing. So, for example, management at Reynolds Extract seldom knows the actual names of the workers on the floor and so they just call people "dinkus." As the company gets into more dire straits, the fact that Joel and his lieutenant, Brian, do not grow out of this is increasingly funny.

The movie develops the situation more than the characters and some of the characters are more "types" than individuals. Chief among these is Dean, who is more the archetype of the stoner, drug dealer than an individual. He is played by Ben Affleck without much wit and the slack-jawed, half-closed eyes performance is exactly what one expects from this archetype. Similarly, Nathan is the nosy neighbor, Suzie is the unsatisfied wife and Brian is the loyal sidekick. Joel does not so much grow and change throughout the movie as he does watch his dreams slip farther and farther out of his reach.

In addition to being light on characters, because virtually all of the characters are unlikable, the plot seems remarkably simple. We don't honestly care if Joel makes a fortune or loses everything and the saving grace of this uncomplicated movie is that it is short. Extract entertains with verbal humor and a bit of slapstick physical comedy and it does what it is doing quickly. The result is an entertaining movie that makes for an enjoyable evening, even if it is not enduringly great.

For other works with Jason Bateman, please check out my reviews of:
The Change-Up
Horrible Bosses
Paul
The Switch
Couples Retreat
The Invention Of Lying
Hancock
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Smokin' Aces
Arrested Development

6.5/10

For other movie reviews, be sure to check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the films I have reviewed!

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Very Funny, Office Space Deserves Its Role As A Cult Classic Workplace Comedy!

The Good: Funny, Decent acting, Interesting characters
The Bad: Light on DVD bonus features, Light on character development
The Basics: Office Space is an enjoyable film and is worth watching, but is more of a novelty that is unlikely to hold up over many, many viewings.


With my recently losing another office job - this time because of August downsizing, apparently - my wife thought it was time we took in Office Space together. I, honestly, had been wary of it. After all, there are so many cult classic films that have not lived up for me. Monty Python And The Holy Grail and The Nightmare Before Christmas (reviewed here!) were quoted to me so extensively before I ever saw either that I was bored watching them (the "Monty Python" work is one I have gone back to and been able to appreciate) and some movies, like Garden State I find myself on the opposite side of public opinion in thinking they just weren't that good. Knowing Office Space was such a revered movie, I was hesitant to watch it on the chance that it ended up as yet another cult classic that disappointed me.

Fortunately, the movie lived up to most of the hype surrounding it. It is funny, the characters are quirky and there is enough of a plot to make it more than just a collection of catch phrases strung together to fill the ninety minutes the film is supposed to be. Office Space is on the short end of the spectrum, but it is easy to see why it captured the attention of so many people over the years.

Peter Gibbons hates his job working for Initech where he is rewriting software for the Y2K changeover when he isn't busy zoning out at his desk. He is tired of management coming down on him for the occasional human error and when his girlfriend leaves him after she takes him to an occupational hypnotherapist who dies during the session, Peter shrugs it off. In fact, as a result of the hypnosis, he stops stressing work and asks the waitress he has had a crush on, Joanna, out on a date. When Initech brings in a pair of consultants to trim the fat, Peter is able to be completely honest with them, which puts his boss, Bill, in a bad light.

But Peter's honest comes with a price: the Bobs want to promote him, but they also want to fire most of his friends. So, Peter goes to Michael Bolton and Samir and convinces them to pull the computer scam from Superman 3 in order to get money from the company. But when the half-pennies they swipe from transaction fees are put together, the check is much bigger than they suspected and they find themselves in new levels of trouble.

Office Space wonderfully attacks capitalism and pits human free will against the forces that keep us in our places. Arguably, it makes the more practical point that it is important for each of us to find the right place to work, but the resolution makes the case that with enough money any one of us could find true happiness. Or maybe the point is that most people will be able to complain about anything, regardless of how much money they have. Either way, the idea that finding the right fit with employment so that one does not hate their lives is important and a theme of Office Space. It's one of the reasons I am happy to have a blog: it's one of the ways I enjoy writing and find joy in this life. I suppose for characters like Peter, they have to go through a process to learn these things.

The film balances the workplace story well with the budding relationship between Peter and Joanna. While the romantic relationship is a little predictable for the plot progression, it works to make Peter seem less isolated in the world at a time when he is supposed to be coming into his own. That works nicely. Similarly, the scenes wherein Joanna struggles at her workplace for getting unclear directions from her supervisor makes her seem viable in her own right.

Office Space has a magnificent cast, but more than that, it uses the cast remarkably well. Jennifer Aniston steals her scenes as Joanna and Ron Livingston holds the movie together as Peter. In fact, for the first time in a work with him that I can recall, I saw Livingston as a viable performer in his own right. Historically, I have seen him on screen and his performance has reminded me of Kyle MacLachlan. Here, Livingston is distinct in his own right and he carries the mellow quality that Peter needs after he is hypnotized remarkably well.

The cast is rounded out by Gary Cole, David Herman, Ajay Naidu, Diedrich Bader, John C. McGinley and Richard Riehl, who all give great supporting performances to make Office Space a viable microcosm. The strange office world and equally strange real life outside it play well because of these actors with their individual idiosyncrasies. No one has more quirks than Stephen Root's Milton. The mumbling, pushed-around worker is the iconic role of Office Space and Root has a way of making the character pitiable and likable, later channeling much of this part for his role in True Blood Season One (reviewed here!).

Ultimately, Office Space is funny and it makes good points on the importance of finding a job one can live with, but there is little to it outside that message. Mike Judge does an admirable job writing and directing the film, but virtually all of the salient points were in the trailer and the film does not have much to it beyond those points. Still, the film is worth watching.

For other movies set in a workplace, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Horrible Bosses
Glengarry Glen Ross
Cedar Rapids

7/10

For other film reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Uncomfortable Laughter Rules Jackass Number Two An Anemic Stunt Comedy Film I Loathed.

The Good: There are some moments of humor.
The Bad: No plot, No character development, Loathsome pranks
The Basics: Short, unpleasant and repetitive, Jackass Number Two is simply an escalating series of painful and vile pranks which are not worth watching.


After weeks of trying to get through a review of Jackass Number Two, I've decided the best way I can muster up enthusiasm for this is to simply write a succinct one.

My wife came to our relationship with Jackass Number Two on her shelf of DVDs and that surprised me, despite knowing she had a love of dumb comedies. When she insisted we watch it together, I had trepidations, despite never having seen an episode of Jackass or the first Jackass movie. Those reservations, it turns out, were well-founded.

Jackass Number Two is a short film which captures various pranks formed by the team of twenty-something men who put one another in mortal risk for the thrill of surviving dangerous obstacles. The movie has no character development, no plot and is essentially a reality show on the big screen (or now on DVD). The team of young men, led by Johnny Knoxville, put themselves in ridiculous and painful situations just to be able to say they did them

The viewer, then, is subjected to Knoxville, Bam Margera, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Ryan Dunn, Wee Man (Jason Acuña) and the others doing such things as: getting branded (Bam has a penis-shaped brand burned into his butt, but because he flinches it is done several times and actually gets infected), running with bulls, having a leech placed on the eyeball and getting shot with rubber projectiles used for crowd control. A few of the stunts border on clever, like the way a gag that results in people getting punched in the face through a wall uses a sign with increasingly smaller script that forces them to move closer to it, but most of them are ridiculous and dumb. The men make a wheelchair rocket propelled and Knoxville launches himself into the air on a giant rocket.

Most of the stunts are painful, like five of the guys playing on a four-way see-saw while a bull tries to gore them from below or the way Wee Man is blown across a marsh using a giant fan and a parachute. Jackass Number Two occasionally tries to be simply funny, like a simple gag where a man wearing only his underclothes chases Wee Man in his underwear down the street and around a corner, a moment later resulting in the man being chased by over a dozen similarly diminutive men.

Jackass Number Two builds up to a stunt that is not just dangerous, but is mean on many levels to the guys involved. There is no narrative to the film; it's just a series of vignettes which take about five minutes each and usually involve coercing members of the group to go through with the current stunt.

The movie shows the men engaged in planning terrible, painful or embarrassing pranks which illustrate no respect for one another. The men keep upping the ante conceiving evermore heinous activities and watching the movie is dehumanizing to the viewer as much as it is problematic for the men involved. I found myself laughing occasionally at the stupidity of the pranks or because I was uncomfortable. I found myself looking away a lot because the movie often had elements which were nauseating and gross (several of the men vomit at various points in the film).

Jackass Number Two is gross and not entertaining enough to recommend or even encourage a third part. Utterly worthless.

0/10

For other movie reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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