Extract

The middle class is ridden with idiots: giggling, teenaged metalheads, borderline-retarded co-workers, painfully plain neighbors with few things as important as their lawns, and endlessly condescending bosses. As Mike Judge takes them on with each movie, even our protagonists aren't spared a boring plainness. They're watered-down, exhausted, just as painfully average as the people they can't stand to be surrounded by. In his latest, 'Extract', these shoes are filled by Jason Bateman's extract factory owner. His wife won't put out, his employees think they're all more special than each other, and his neighbor won't leave him alone. The factory he once took such pride in is now nothing more than that, a factory; and selling it feels like his one-way ticket out of mediocrity. But a beautiful con-artist, and testicle-removing freak accident, and a local celebrity attorney derail his escape plan. But that's the least of his worries. Bateman's confidant and local bartender (a never better Ben Affleck) drugs him into a stupor and convinces him to hire a giggolo to seduce his wife - thereby making it okay for him to sleep with the new hottie at work. Unfortunately, the young lothario turns out to be the simplest resident in simpleville and ends up falling for his wife.

Where Judge's best features were set in worlds that said as much as its characters and stories, 'Extract's feels like little more than an excuse to put a lot of great actors in funny situations. Judge has long since said what needs saying about the soul-destroying banality of the working class - now it just seems like his favorite setting for a lot of funny missteps. And are they still funny? Well, for the most part; and thanks to flawless casting. Jason Bateman again masters the straight man routine, which is aided by a phenomenal supporting cast; including an again unrecognizable Clifton Collins Jr., a perfectly cast Dustin Milligan, and a non-stop Matt Schulze. Rest assured, you will laugh. But you've probably already guessed what you're in for. Mila Kunis just keeps getting hotter.