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From cult hero writer/director Mike Judge comes Extract, a fresh and funny look at the life of the owner and employees of a flavor extract factory on Blu-ray & DVD December 22, 2009.
Release Date: December 22, 2009
Feature Run Time: 92 minutes
Rated: R
Joel Reynolds (Jason Bateman) is sitting pretty. With a beautiful wife, a comfortable home and the almost finalized acquisition by General Mills of the culinary extracts business he has built with his loyal lieutenant Brian (J.K. Simmons), Joel seems to have it all. Except his wife is about as interested in him as she is in her career (supermarket coupon design), his employees want a piece of the pie and the sweet young thing with designs on him (Mila Kunis) is really a wily con-artist. On the advice of a drug-addled confidante (Ben Affleck), Joel cooks up a scheme to cheat with impunity by hiring a gigolo to seduce his wife—only to discover the young object of his affection is behind a lawsuit by long-time employee Step (Clifton Collins, Jr.) that will scotch the General Mills deal and leave Joel penniless. The best-laid plans unravel with hilarious results in this off-the wall comedy about life in the not-so-fast lane.
Joel is a guy who’ has successfully created his own business and it seems that he should be content however that is not possible as one of his employees sue the company for an injury and on top of that, there is no intimacy whatsoever in his marriage. Along with Joel, everyone – including Joel’s neighbor has an agenda, which makes for some outrageous and colorful characters. Needless to say, there is a lot going on. These characters want what they want and will do anything to get it, and that’s where the comedy comes in. This film has its comedic moments, especially when you least expect it though overall it is more about the layers of the characters than getting the comedic punch, which I liked. The casting is perfect however something that viewers may not like is how underused Kristen Wiig is in the film. And while the tangled web of characters was quite interesting to say the least although it seems there was a lot held back and this film had so much more room to explore. By the end, viewers may be stuck thinking, “That’s it?” After watching this blue collar film, you will see that there was so much potential for more in depth subplots and characters and more laugh out loud comedy. It’s a shame the film only touches the surface of what brilliance could have come out of this. If only Mike Judge hadn’t held back for the mainstream and gave us the flavor we were all expecting! Still, Extract is a fun film to watch so pick it up this week on DVD.
Bonus Feature:
Mike Judge’s Secret Recipe — This special feature takes viewers behind the scenes of shooting on set at a real water factory with the cast, crew, and real life factory workers in LA as the cast, Writer/Director, Mike Judge, and Producer, John Altschuler discuss the ingredients into making this wildly entertaining film. The cast included in this feature are Jason Bateman, Mila Kunis, Lidia Porto, Beth Grant, TJ Miller, JK Simmons, Javier Gutiérrez, Clifton Collins Jr, Kristen Wiig, Dustin Milligan, David Koechner, and Gene Simmons. There is discussion on filming with actual factory workers and the cast members' backgrounds and knowledge of this job, Mike's influences in creating these characters, what it was like working with Mike and Kristen and more. There are a few blooper moments although not nearly enough for such a comedic film. This is a great behind the scenes look at the film, however I would have really loved to have seen Mike talk about the writing process, rewrites, and more about the casting of the film. Overall though, this feature was put together well and gives a short but sweet look into Extract.
Own Extract on Blu-ray & DVD December 22nd!
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