Extract

Saw Extract, a Mike Judge comedy about a small business owner who, ala A Serious Man, suffers and suffers though misfortune, usually of his own design but frequently at the hands of his idiot employees or his even-bigger-idiot friend, a bartender who should have been played by Seth Rogen but is instead played by Ben Affleck. I kept wondering why the protagonist still hung out with Affleck. He's such a stupid, self-righteous ass. I guess he hangs out with him for the sake of the comedy however.

This is a tightly scripted comedy, where threads are branched and wrapped up elegantly and neatly. I did feel that the convolutions of the plot were a little far-fetched however. The protagonist is a chemist-turned-entrepreneur so I think he's supposed to maybe be a little more bumbling and socially stupid? He comes off however as some kind of lunatic who would rather hire a gigolo to seduce his wife in some circuitous plot than just talk to his wife. Also, like I say, he keeps hanging out with the colossal idiot bartender. I think he (the protagonist) is supposed to be a sort of Hank Hill character, meaning well and geekily invested in his niche of the market (flavoring extracts.) I think Jason Bateman plays him a little too Woody Allen-ish, snide and insincere.

Anyway, it's not a bad film. It has a few wonks in it and gets frustrating a couple of times, but it's solidly entertaining for its run-time and also, lie I say, it's very well plotted and well written. Mike Judge can write a hell of a skewering of the vacuity of modern life. I loved, for example, the giant leather cell-phone clip their overbearing neighbor wears. It's such a perfect detail. The film might have been better with more unknown actors but is not bad at all as it is.