OK, so it's not Office Space.

Extract reminds me of "Fierce Creatures", another film that had the terrible burden of trying to live up to a previous film made by the same people that achieved genius-level. Well, it seems that making a great comedy can be like waiting for a lightning strike.

Extract is not at the level of Office Space, but it's still very funny. Jason Bateman plays Joel, the owner of an extract factory ('extract' is in flavoring, like vanilla extract). His sex life has become non-existent, and some problems are arising at the workplace. He's tempted by the arrival of a gorgeous temp (Mila Kunis) who also happens to be a thief and con woman. He finds himself hanging out at the office with his buddy Dean (Ben Affleck) who advises him to hire a gigolo for his wife. This sounds like a terrible idea until Dean gives Joel a horse tranquilizer, which seriously impedes his judgment.

And much hilarity ensues.

The cast is terrific, including those named above and Kristen Wiig as Joel's wife; JK Simmons as Joel's partner; Dustin Milligan as Brad, the gigolo; and David Koechner as the neighborhood bore, Nathan. Gene Simmons has an excellent small role as Joe Adler, a local ambulance chaser who advertises on bus stop benches.

The film takes some unusual twists and turns and on the whole offers a lot of laughs. It does not hit the heights of Office Space, but after the dreadfully dull Idiocracy, it makes for a nice film.

I have seen it twice now. Sometimes a movie can be reasonably funny the first time, but isnt worth seeing a second time. Fortunately the second time around "Extract" still held it's ground and was as funny as during the first viewing. That is always a good sign, because it means that the dialogues are witty and true to life.

"Extract" is a tongue in cheek comedy, some jokes are right in your face, but most jokes are just funny because of the behaviour of people and the conflicts they get into. Let's take the main character played by Jason Bateman: he hasnt got the privacy to masturbate in his own house. He has to masturbate because his wife Kirsten Wigg only has sex with him once in every 3 months. He complains about Kristen Wiigss headaches in bed to his friend Ben Affleck. Ben Affleck advises him to have an affair. But just to relieve himself of any guilt he must first make sure his wife has an affair too. So he sends her a gigolo to seduce his wife. What happens next is both hilarious and endearing. Bateman carefully balances between humor, grumpiness and everyday relationship boredom, which will be easily recognizable for any adult.

It is a slow burner, a lot of whining. But I loved it. I didnt burst out in laughter all the time, it is more constantly amusing to see Jason Bateman complaining about his wife headaches and finding ways to masturbate in the house without his wife finding out about it. Lovely supporting roles of Mila Kunis amongst others...