3/5 Pretty Good!!!
  by Pumpkin Man
I really didn't know what to expect when I saw this! There were a few funny parts, but nothing where you laugh out loud at. Joel Reynolds owns an extract company and falls in love with a beautiful con-artist named Cindy. While he is high, he tries to get a gigolo to sleep with his wife while he can have an affair with Cindy, but the plan backfires. I probably wouldn't recommend EXTRACT!!!

4/5 A difficult month in the life of a nice guy...
  by Edmonson (Canada)
"Extract, directed by Mike Judge (King of the Hill), is about Joel (Jason Bateman) who runs an extract factory. He has his regular ups and downs just like anyone, but when one of his workers loses his testicle in a freak accident things start to go from bad to worse. The next thing that happens to him is a con-woman named Cindy (Mila Kunis) begins work for him. Cindy convinces the testicleless employee to file a lawsuit against the company. Also, his wife hasn't wanted to have sex with him for months, and he takes some bad advice from his friend, Dean (Ben Affleck), and hires a pool guy to seduce his wife so that he can guiltlessly have an affair with Cindy, and before he knows it the pool guy is coming over everyday and has fallen in love with his wife. Then the employees decide that they should get a piece of the pie of his company, since he is thinking of selling it to a prospective buyer, and decide to go on strike.

"Extract" is like one of those bad months where one thing after another keeps happening to Joel. Joel is a nice guy, who has always tried to be good to people and do the right thing. He knows all of his employees names. He can't even bring himself to yell at the pool guy for continuing to visit his wife at his house. "Extract" is a pleasant little film that just keeps moving along with one amusing ill event after another. We wonder where this is all leading, because it looks like fate is against Joel. He is about to lose everything, his wife, his business, et cetera. But then there's a turning point where he realizes that Cindy is probably not as innocent as she seems. And as gently as misfortune had swelled over him, it then begins to subside, and all begins to fall back into place as before. This film washes gently over one as mildly and pleasantly as does Joel's kindly demeanor.

3/5 Perceptive Satire But Not As Funny As I Expected
  by Chris Luallen (Nashville, Tennessee)
Joel (Jason Bateman) is the owner of a successful flavor extract company. But his plans to sell the company are threatened following a testicle injury to an employee named Step (Clifton Collins). Step is at first willing to settle until being manipulated by an attractive con artist (Mila Kinus).There is also a sub-plot involving Joel's sexual frustration, his bored wife (Kristen Wiig) and a not so bright "gigolo".

I've been a fan of writer/director Mike Judge's since his "Beavis And Butthead Days". So I had high expectations for this movie. It does feature Judge's knack for observation on the lives of everday people, especially the not so bright. But somehow the plot just never comes together in a way that I found compelling. Also the laughs are only occassional rather than frequent. I still appreciate Judge's insightfully satirical take on American life. But he's got to deliver the laughs in a bigger way if he is going to make it work.

4/5 Mike Judge's patented brand of intelligent insanity comes through again.
  by Mr. Censored (Maine)
From the mind of Mike Judge ("Office Space") comes "Extract," a movie about the mundane daily struggles of Joel Reynolds (Jason Bateman). Joel is the owner of a flavoring extract plant where he is forced to babysit his mismatched and unmotivated employees and dreams of the day he can sell the company off and stop working altogether. His wife, Suzie (SNL's Kristen Wiig) sits at home, depressed and lonely, while Joel struggles to make it home before the eight o'clock deadline when she puts on her sweatpants and all hopes of coitus are squashed. A con-woman (Mila Kunis) comes into the picture, hoping to capitalize on a pending lawsuit against the company as well as catching Joel's eye. Not knowing what to do, he turns to his drug-peddling bartender friend (Ben Affleck) who in turn suggests he hires a gigolo to have an affair with his wife so he can go forward with his own affair, guilt-free.

If it sounds ludicrous and over-the-top, it is. Mike Judge's films always have a way of spinning everyday-life situations in the wildest ways. What starts out with the best (well, sort of) intentions quickly spirals downward into a mess beyond repair. Like "Office Space," "Extract" is Judge's version of what happens when the everyday, working-class man gets bored and decides to do something about it. Is it meant to be a cautionary tale or simply a social commentary? Whatever the answer, it works on both levels. You'll laugh at Joel's misfortunes while a little part of you feels sympathy knowing deep down that he is simply a nice guy gone wrong and that things like this (although not as extreme) could happen to any one of us. That sort of twisted reality is what makes a good Mike Judge film, and no doubt, this is another of his that is destined to become a cult-classic.

Thankfully, though, the movie isn't so wacky that it loses its humanity. Despite some odd performances in the film, achieved brilliantly by Affleck, David Koechner and J.K. Simmons (who, with his bald-head, somewhat resembles a character in one of Mike Judge's cartoons) and the outrageous events that unfold, the film still keeps its heart firmly in place. Granted, you won't laugh as thoroughly as you might during other comedies, but during Judge's fourth feature-length film, you'll squirm enough in your seat during the awkward moments to know that you were delivered a solid story with real characters and humor derived from their pain and suffering. "Extract" is, at the end of the day, an intelligent, hard-working and quirky little comedy that will no doubt find its audience in the years to come, much like "Office Space." Unfortunately the film isn't doing so hot right now (debuting at #10!), so I urge you to go to the movies and give it a shot. I promise, you won't be sorry.

3/5 Risky Extract Business
  by E. M. Bristol (boston, mass)
"Extract," has one of those plots that seem more plausible when you're sitting in an air-conditioned theater, rather than describing it afterwards. Bateman plays Joel, the owner of an extract factory, who is experiencing difficulties both at work and in his marriage. His wife won't have sex with him, if he gets home at a certain hour, which is often, as he gets waylaid by his overly friendly neighbor before he's even out of the car. At the factory, he must deal with employees that are not rocket scientists (to put it generously), a potential lawsuit, and a gorgeous young temp (Kunis) who is planning a scam. His bartender friend (Ben Affleck) gives him advice, but following only tends to worsen things.

"Extract," has a great cast including Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Mila Kunis, Ben Affleck, Gene Simmons (as a personal injury lawyer), and the blond surfer guy from the new Beverly Hills
90210. Some parts were hilarious, but others very dull; though because it was from the creator of "Office Space," I wanted to like it more than I did.