Harry EXTRACTs a lot of laughs from Mike Judge's Latest!

Went to the premiere of EXTRACT tonight. I really haven't liked any of the spots on TV nor any of the trailers. I was there as one of the sponsors for the event, though I'm not real sure how that happened. I'm relatively sure that I was never even asked about it. Seriously Yet there on the marquee was AICN. No, I was there because my wife and I worship KING OF THE HILL nightly on Adult Swim. Watching a little bit of Hank Hill's familial and friendly existence is just the thing to give you just a taste of joy, before going to sleep. I missed OFFICE SPACE on its initial run. Never had a chance to see IDIOCRACY in theaters, so other than the BEAVIS & BUTTHEAD DO AMERICA 'event' premiere way back when... I haven't attended or seen a Mike Judge film theatrically. And that is not a badge of honor. It's a badge of shame, hung squarely around the neck of the folks at Fox that really seemed to relish tormenting a man, from all accounts, that is just about as regular a guy as you could ever hope to meet. Not that I've really met Mike Judge. We see each other around, but frankly. The man intimidates me. KING OF THE HILL kills me regularly - and watching the show with my wife is one of just the flat out plain simple joys of life. You don't have to plan it, it just happens and it makes us happy. And figuring out how to explain that to a man... well, honestly - its fucking embarrassing. Well, I went into this event today not even sure of the story. When I ran that contest the other day - and asked for Work Related Accident Stories... I thought the story was all about a man getting his nuts destroyed, as far as I knew, there'd be a bike race in France for a 3rd act. I didn't know. So as I settled into my place, it was with a bit of hesitation. I hadn't really heard any buzz on the quality of the film, but well. Let's just let Mike take over - and that's exactly what happened once the film unfurled. The overriding theme of the story is the fact that Jason Bateman only gets laid about once every 3 months - and frankly. That's not doing it for him. Meanwhile, he's noticed that if he gets home after his wife puts on sweatpants, there's no chance at nookie. Now, rather than having a frank discussion with his wife, he goes to a bar he used to work at, to chat up his good friend played by Ben Affleck... and spills it all to him. And he, of course, has all the answers to Jason's problems. It involves drugs, alcohol, a gigolo and his wife. I won't say a damn thing about what happens from those elements, but it gets pretty hilarious right from the get-go. MEANWHILE - at the Extract plant that Jason owns, General Mills has put in an offer to buy his company, which would allow him to retire. But things there get complicated as well. And then there's the new hot girl that everyone wants to fuck. Which infinitely complicates things further. Soon you have a film about vaguely insane motivations, all of which are understandable, but Jason ends up in a world turned upside down. And it looks very bad for him. BTW - the worse it is for Jason, the better it is for all of us. Because his suffering is directly related to my laugh quotient. Jason is great in the film, but really... Ben Affleck shines incredibly brightly as "the best friend". One member of the audience was so smitten with the role Affleck plays here - that she asked if that was what he was really like, and Jason kind of said that it was. What is great about it is that it feels real and genuine. The humor is never forced or extremely gaggy. It just evolves naturally. This feels like a film in the same universe as OFFICE SPACE. It is completely different, but if the characters in OFFICE SPACE needed Cherry Extract for some amazing baked goods... it would be this cherry Extract. And they'd love it. At every level, it is funny. From the gigolo "dumb blonde boy" to Gene Simmons' hilarious turn as the slimiest claims lawyer we have seen in a while. I found that stuff especially funny, having spent a bit of time with Gene at Comic Con. It is hilarious. Another great character is Ben's smoking buddy in the film, "Willie" as played by Matt Schulze. Now Matt isn't quite a name actor yet. Not a name you recognize right off, but it's little roles like this which have earned him so many cool points it isn't funny. You may remember his Chupa character from BLADE II or in THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS, he played Vince, the guy with the hots for Jordana Brewster, but constantly having that Blonde punk fucking up his traction. Well in EXTRACT he plays a stoner. But he isn't like any stoner I've really seen on film before. He's that guy, with the extreme equipment, the blowtorch lighter, the 6ft long bong - and he's absolutely militant about method. He's extremely funny and scary in the film. Great little role. In fact, every little role is a great little role. Like Ms Sparkle Motion on the line at the Extract plant. Hilarious. JK Simmons and his inability to remember ANYBODY's name. Great. Mike has all these characters and they're all great. He does that by always making sure that when they're on screen they're adding to their character. That through their actions and words we identify more clearly with the essence of who these people are - and then we recognize our own lives in them. And it is his ability to find universal regular truths that just resonate with laughter pitch perfectly. I'm really fond of this one. This will be the best treated Mike Judge release in his live-action history, mainly because the good people at Miramax won't bury this comedy treasure like those beasts at Fox did. EXTRACT is very funny. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.