Review: Judge ‘Extracts’ more humor from workplace

"Extract"—Mike Judge has a real affection for hard working, simple folk who like in small communities. You can see and hear it in his long-running animated series, "King of the Hill." "Office Space," the independent comedy Judge wrote and directed a decade ago that's become a cult favorite, also celebrates the connections made by folks working together in an often dysfunc-tional office. Judge returns to the big screen as the writer/director of "Extract," an off-beat workplace comedy set in a small California community. Though Judge's script has several holes, the film's cast of superior character actors make it a fairly flavorful movie stew.

Jason Bateman ("Juno," "State of Play") stars as Joel, the founder and co-owner of a small, but successful flavor extract company. His motley crew of workers is constantly complaining about their jobs, while Joel's business partner Brian (J.K. Simmons, "Juno," "Spider-Man") keep things under control, more or less. Still, Joel's devoted to his business and his staff—perhaps a little too devoted.

He's begun to notice his wife Suzie's (Kristin Wiig of "Saturday Night Live") has less and less interest in "bedroom time," particularly if he arrives home after 8 p.m., which he's been doing a lot lately.

Discussing the situation with his best friend Dean (Ben Affleck,) a more than slightly drugged-out bar-tender, a plan of sorts is hatched. Dean will recruit a gigolo to pretend to be a new pool cleaner, seduce Suzie and allow Joel to have a fling to end his sexual frustration without feeling guilty.

Naturally, things don't go quite right, as the gigolo falls for Suzie and the temp worker Joel's fixated on isn't at all what he though she was. Just when things couldn't get worse, they do, as a potential multi-million purchase of the company by a corporate giant is endangered by a workplace acci-dent that leaves potential floor manager Step (Clifton Collins, "Capote") questioning his man-hood—and hiring a barracuda of a personal injury lawyer (Gene Simmons, yes, that Gene Simmons.)

Judge's screenplay weaves together a series of plot strands that often seem to have little in common. When they do come together, there seems to be an almost haphazard feel to their intersection. But Bate-man, Simmons (J.K. and Gene,) and the rest of the cast find small touches in their characters that give the jokes and plot twists an added jolt. Affleck and Mila Kunis ("Forgetting Sarah Marshall,"  "Family Guy") are particularly notable as Joel's friend and the tempting temp, respec-tively.

Ironically, considering the fact that Judge is also the creator of "Bevis and Butt-Head," "Extract's" biggest flaw may be its restraint.

It never quite gets as crazy as its plot or characters sound. While the director/screenwriter may see that as a way of keeping the characters likeable and the plot within some bounds of realism, like Joel, the movie could use a moment or two of cutting loose.

There are numerous laughs here and, while "Extract" won't make you forget, say, "The Hangover," it really does have its quirky charms. Sample it soon. MPAA Rating: R for profanity, violence, drug content and sexual situations.

Joe's Rating: Two and One-Half (** ½) Stars.

Also opening Friday

"All About Steve"—You've probably met someone like Mary Madeline Horowitz (Sandra Bullock.) She's relentlessly optimistic, knows something about every topic under the sun and just can't seem to stop talking. Mary creates crossword puzzles for a newspaper in a mid-sized California town and doesn't have a boyfriend—or many friends, for that matter.

Things seem to change when she's set up on a blind date with handsome, friendly cable news cam-eraman Steve Muller (Bradley Cooper, "The Hangover").

When Mary's long dormant passion gets the better of her five minutes into the date, Steve is relieved to get an emergency call on a breaking story. He thinks he's gently eased his way out of the situa-tion, but he soon discovers he's very wrong. If you think this is the kind of unusual love story you'd like to see, you'll soon find yourself with the title character on the wrong side of things if you decide to learn "All About Steve."

Before the final credits roll, "Steve" becomes a commentary on the tabloid tastes of cable news, a satire on the way personal health decisions morph into public tugs-of-war and testimonial to em-bracing your inner iconoclast, no matter what anyone says. The film is all over the place, with no sense of direction.

Director Phil Trail makes a spectacularly unimpressive jump from sitcoms to the big screen here. Bullock, Cooper, Thomas Hayden Church ("Sideways"), who plays the swell-headed correspondent Steve works with and Ken Jeong ("The Hangover") who plays their producer, are all talented actors. It makes you wonder what they saw in this ugly mutt of a movie that made them sign on to do it.

As one of the film's executive producers, Bullock has even less excuse than the rest of he cast. Mary may have appeared at first blush to be an acting challenge, but all she ends up doing is wasting all the good will the success of Bullock's earlier romantic comedy, "The Proposal," earned her.

Rape jokes, religion jokes and jokes about physical deformities all help to make "All About Steve" a film only the most diehard of Bullock fans will want to endure. Keep this up and "Speed 3" won't be far away. MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual situations, profanity and some crude humor.

Joe's Rating: One (*) Star.

Joe Barber's entertainment reviews and reports can be heard Fridays through Sundays on the WTOP-FM Radio Network (103.5, 103.9, 107.7 & Wtop.com.) He can be seen regularly on WETA-TV's Around Town and Fridays on Comcast Sports Net's Washington Post Live!