New comedy fails to reach its potential

These days, comedy’s best friend is your average Joe.

Writer-producer-director Mike Judge taps into this phenomenon with his own quirky rendition of ordinary people living their ordinary lives.

Judge’s latest film, Extract, is being promoted as the unofficial sequel to his box-office-flop-turned-cult-classic Office Space, harnessing the same “stick-it-to-the-man” attitude.

The emphasis here, however, isn’t on the star-studded ensemble cast. Instead, the film focuses on food extract factory owner Joel Reynolds (Jason Bateman), whose daily race to make it home before his wife Suzie (Kristen Wiig) changes into her sweatpants keeps his testosterone boiling.

Enter new factory employee Cindy (Mila Kunis), whose hottie status spices up the workplace’s atmosphere of boredom. With prodding from his best friend Dean (Ben Affleck), horse tranquilizers and some ill-founded guy logic, straight-edge Joel finds himself hiring a boy-wonder gigolo (Dustin Milligan) to sleep with his wife so that he can pursue his own extramarital activities guilt-free.

Adding to the madness, no one seems to notice that the new hire and object of everyone’s affection is actually a thieving and manipulating sociopath.

After years of battling with movie studio executives, Judge has finally made it on his own, forming his own production company to keep creative control of his material.

As a result, Judge is one of the few directors in Hollywood with authority over the movie’s final product. But judging from the slow progression and poor character development, his new film might have been in desperate need of outsider input.

The majority of Extract focuses on setting up the predicaments that ensue, making it feel like an extended television show that should have ended at 30 minutes instead of being allowed to flatline across the entire span of a full-length movie.

Audiences are forced to sift through the cluttered plot, choosing whether to focus on the sexual escapades, the pending lawsuit against the factory or the money-grubbing manipulator wreaking havoc in Joel’s personal and professional life.

When the film finally hits its climax, everything goes completely wrong but then magically and all-too-neatly fixes itself — in about 20 minutes.

Bateman’s ability to play the “everyman” garners some audible laughs and sympathy for his plight, but fails to grasp the depth needed for credibility.

Joel’s actions, from his foolishly hatched plan to his unbelievable management decisions, relay a series of events that highlight not only the limitations within the script, but also the importance and difficulties of grounding comedy in real life scenarios.

Some might recognize Saturday Night Live alumnus David Koechner as Nathan, the annoying neighbor who passive-aggressively pesters Joel into a friendship he never wanted.

With his dorky glasses and uptight garb, Nathan parks himself in Joel’s driveway, forcing conversation and even cornering him into a Rotary Club dinner. Koechner plays the neighbor from hell to a T, which becomes painfully hilarious to watch as images of your own resident nightmare are conjured.

Like Joel, however, Nathan lacks full-fledged character development. The sustained emphasis on his obnoxious habits are maddening to watch.

In general, the film’s characters are meant to be drawn from everyday life, but each person’s unfavorable trait is so exaggerated that it overshadows the subtleties of human behavior. Flaws are emphasized to the point of redundancy.

At times, voice-overs and obvious cuts cover spotty acting, revealing either a lack of storytelling finesse or the inability of the actors to harness their star power within.

When Joel and Dean smoke up at a buddy’s house, the insertion of typical “stoner” music — a combination of exotic instruments — invokes an almost uncomfortable reliance on auditory sensibilities to create a mood that should be readily apparent through the acting — not that it makes any of it less funny. In fact, the scenes where music is put in overdrive are pleasantly reworked to enhance the overall comedic effect.

On paper, Extract has the makings of a potential box office hit, but it stacks too many wild events and one-dimensional characters to tap into the same cultural phenomenon that Judge accomplished with Office Space.

But maybe that’s the point: the film is meant to show exactly just how out of hand and surprising life can be.

Or, maybe, Judge is just riding out the wave he came in on.