I’m sure there are people out there who have seen Office Space and hated it.  There must be.  But so far I haven’t found any.   That isn’t to say that the humor of Mike Judge is beloved in all cases; Idiocracy – while a favorite film of some people – was to me a great idea with horrendously unfunny execution.  Fortunately, Extract returns us back to the same sort of familiar humor as Office Space: an Everyman who is somewhat unhappy in his life, while surrounded by oddball characters and morons, is forced to determine what he can do to make himself satisfied with life again.

In the case of Extract, our straight man is Joel (Jason Bateman).  Joel is a successful businessman, the founder and owner of a company which produces and sells flavoring extracts.  It’s not an exciting business, although he does find some pleasure in it.  His employees are generally incompetent or lack basic skills, but Joel knows them by name and in feels sorry for those who need some help (many of his employees were hired off of the “Job One” program, which by inference is for unskilled laborers). 

Joel has grown tired of this life, and hopes to sell the business so he can retire.  In the meantime, his sex life with his wife is non-existent.  His former co-worker and buddy Dean (Ben Affleck) is a bartender at a local hotel, and he tries to give Joel advice on how to spice up his life.  Enter Cindy (Mila Kunis), an attractive con-artist who uses her feminine wiles to get what she wants.  In an effort to hook up with an injured worker, and to convince him to sue Joel’s company, Cindy joins the workforce, and feigns interest in Joel.  Strongly attracted to her, Joel considers cheating on his wife…but his guilt would never let him do that.

In typical stoner fashion, Dean comes up with a plan to relive that guilt: they will hire a gigolo he knows, and give Joel’s wife the opportunity to be seduced by him.  If she succumbs, Joel will no longer feel guilty, and he’ll be free to have sex with Cindy.

As with Office Space, the plot is almost secondary to the characters Joel is surrounded with.  His goofy employees, his annoying neighbor, the moronic gigolo/landscaper are all good for laughs.  Gene Simmons (of Kiss fame) appears as an obnoxious and somewhat creepy lawyer who advertises on television and represents the injured worker, and even he gets a chuckle or two.  If you’ve seen Office Space and enjoyed it, I think you’ll find Extract very funny, even if it is not up to the hilarity of Office Space.  That film is a classic; this one is just a really good time.