Project-Blu 'Extract' Review, by Jamie Shuhyta

Extract

By: Jamie Shuhyta, 1.8.2010

The Movie Itself:
After years of MIA status in the directing helm Mike Judge finally returns to give us another dose of his comedy brand. In case you don't know Judge is responsible for such hits as Office Space, Beavis and Butt-Head and the long running animated series King of the Hill. This time Judge brings a flick to us by the name of Extract. Advertised as the next 'Office Space' and utilizing a cast of fairly well known actors and actresses I expected top quality 'Judge' comedy. Today I will sit down and review Extract on Blu-ray to see exactly what Judge has brought to the table after years of absence.

Extract was released just a few months ago to theaters and has already hit the home media market. Basically being a box office failure I am assuming they are trying to re-coup as much money as possible. While Extract only had a budget of $8 million; it only managed to scrap together about $11 million in revenues, so it's def not the numbers you would want for a theatrical release. Being the following that Mike Judge has and the list of stars involved I'm sure these numbers were surprise to a lot of the investors and the studio itself.

Extract cast stars some pretty big names, including Jason Bateman, Mila Kumis, J.K. Simmons, and Ben Affleck so character performances should be decent to say the least. Even Mike Judge himself steps out from behind the scenes to play a union organizer in the plant. The plot of the movie is fairly simple, and basically follows the life of the lead character Joel Reynolds (Jason Bateman). Joel owns and operates his own flavor-extract company called Reynold's Extract, hence the name of the movie. His business is fairly successful but yet he feels his life is somewhat dull and uneventful. Joel especially feels his home life is going no where as he hasn't had sex with his wife (Kristen Wiig) in well over a month. He is also having some trouble with some of his employees. Joel's best friend is Dean (Ben Affleck); he's a fast talking bartender who tries to find a solution to Joel's frustration, which comes in the form of Xanax. Joel though refuses any so called 'drug therapy.'

From here things get a bit zany. One day there is an accident at the factory which leads to an employee, Step, losing a testicle, yes a testicle. Seeing the story on the news about the accident a con woman by the name of Cindy (Mila Kunis) soon arrives at the factory looking for work. Her real mission is to get Step to sue the factory and Joel even though Step had originally had no intention of doing so. Through a series of 'influences' she manages to get Step to change his mind and even gets him to hire a cheesy low class lawyer Joe (Gene Simmons). While this is all occurring Cindy continues to work her magic on Joel. Joel is tempted but still loves his wife and decides its best not to out right cheat.

Back at the bar Dean comes up with a plan to get rid of Suzie so Joel will be free to date Cindy. Dean decides that if they can get a male gigolo to seduce her, and if she'll go for it, that would leave Joel in the clear to cheat. Through a mishap Joel actually accepts the idea and hires Brad (Dustin Milligan) to have the affair. After recovering from his mishap Joel realizes what he has done and tries to stop Brad, but it's too late. Figuring the damage is done Joel tries to call Cindy, but also fails to hook up.

The next day Joel meets with Adler the lawyer to discuss the terms of the testicle losing incident. This goes totally wrong when the workers think Joel is actually selling out to General Mills, think small company being eaten up by major company. The employees then get pissed off and decide to strike. Joel, being stuck with both being sued and having striking employees gives up and just goes home. At home Suzie confronts Joel and tells him she's been cheating, he then confesses that he planned the whole thing. Joel decides it best to leave and heads to a hotel where he happens to spot Cindy.

Heading into her room he spots stuff that was stolen from work, he also realizes her true motive to scam Step. Furious he decides to call the police, but is stopped when Cindy finally breaks down in tears and confesses. Joel and Cindy then spend the night together. In the morning Cindy is gone, but she leaves all the stolen stuff, basically hinting that she changed her ways. At work Joel also finds out Step is dropping the lawsuit, and eventually Suzie and Joel run into each other indicating they'll probably end up together again.

Overall I would say I was quite disappointed with Extract as a whole as I found the plot to be too simple and predictable. The entire movie is basically a classic tale of guy with bad luck and hard times eventually coming out happy and a head of the game. We've seen this plot so many times that it's hard to get excited when you realize that's what is clearly going to happen. The comedy is also just, well…. ok. This is Mike Judge, which given his earlier works should have been a lot better than it was. I did laugh once in a while, but overall it doesn't have the level of comedy I would have expected given he's the man behind Office Space. The characters are decent, you can somewhat relate to them, but again they seem overly predictable. Overall it's an ok movie, but definitely nothing new and/or must see.
Rating: 4/10

The Presentation:
Because Extract is a new release, ie not a catalog transfer, we EXPECT the best right? Well too bad, you only get a mediocre transfer this time around. Extract comes via Blu in a 1080p MPEG 4 AVC transfer; it also boasts a 1.85:1 aspect ratio for those interested. Being from Disney/Buena Vista I am somewhat surprised that the video is so 'meh' and not the top caliber it should be. I have a feeling because it was basically a flop box office wise they decided to just rush it out the door ASAP. For whatever reason it is, as I'm just guessing, Extract really provides no real demonstration of Blu technology. While the transfer probably is better than DVD, I can't imagine it's anywhere as strong as it could be. Basically every aspect, being color, sharpness, contrast and detail all fail to impress in any way. Colors looked somewhat pale, this I found particularly messed up in flesh tones where people sometimes almost looked orange. In only a few instances I did manage to see some vivid lifelike coloring. Detail and sharpness were again almost DVD type quality and lacked that Blu-ray 'edge' that can be present on so many other discs. In some scenes the background detail was so blurry I often wondered if the camera was out of focus while shooting? Finally the black levels and contrast were also inconsistent as in some scenes night appeared dark but in others it seemed almost grey. Overall I would give the video 5 out of 10, which may be too high as it is depending on what the DVD looks like.

I was hoping that at least the audio for the disc would be done correctly and at the slightest would provide some improvement over the video transfer. Again though it feels like Disney/Buena Vista rushed this one out the gate as the audio transfer also fails to impress. Extract provides audio via 2 choices: One being an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track and the second a French Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Subtitles come in the usual English, French and Spanish languages. Overall I just the audio to be flat and definitely not immersive. This again is surprising for Disney/Buena Vista especially since they had a DTS-HD Master Audio track to work with. I found the lows to be the biggest issue because they lacked the depth and punch that I think they needed. Highs though were fairly good, this included the dialog that takes place as being fairly clean and clear. Mids also seemed to fill in decently when needed. Another problem with the audio was the lack of surround feel you should get from a lossless 5.1. track. Extract never seems to place you in the center of the scene and in many cases it feels and sounds like 2.1 audio. And while Extract definitely isn't the type of movie to push your sub in the LFE department, I found my sub basically wasn't need much at all. Overall Extract's audio earns 5 out of 10.
Rating: 5/10

The Extras:
Not sure who's in charge in the extra's department but man they must have been a sleep at the wheel on this one. Extract on Blu-ray is soooooo barebones it's almost pointless to even bother the time it takes to hit the remote buttons to get to them. There are a whole 3 choices on the menu with a grand total of 16 mins of viewing, that's very weak to say the least. This is what you get:

Mike Judge' Secret Recipe (11 mins, shot in HD). A featurette that's basically a behind the scenes look at the movie. It's somewhat interesting but nothing compared to what some Blu's offer in the behind the scenes presentation.
Extended Scenes (5 scenes, 4 mins total, and shot in SD). These are useless and add absolutely nothing to the film as a whole.
Deleted Scenes (1 scene… yeah 1, 1 min total, and shot in SD). Again like the extended scenes there's nothing here to see.

Rating: 2/10

Overall:
I'm not sure what Mike Judge's reason was behind making extract, but it definitely wasn't to make us laugh Office Space style. The plot is poor; it's predictable and way too 'done before.' The comedy is weak for the most part, only offering a couple good strong laughs. The Blu-ray transfer itself is just ok, with neither video nor audio being anything ground breaking. I will say that it is probably somewhat better than a DVD transfer though. I would recommend a rent on this one, or wait for it to hit HD movie channels.
Rating: 4/10