”Extract” is okay, clever, and funny, but never reaches the level of a new comedy classic, like creator Mike Judge’s “Office Space”.

The movie does earn its “R” rating with adult themes… its not gratuitous or overly raunchy, but it does have language that you might want younger viewers to avoid.

 Like “Office Space” and “Idiocracy” before it – Judge creates some great characters in “Extract”.   It starts with Jason Bateman’s solid turn as Joel – the boss of the factory making extract…  his talkative neighbor, Nathan, played expertly by David Koechner… J.K. Simmons nails another supporting role as Joel’s factory manager … Ben Affleck pulls off Joel’s goofy friend Dean… Mila Kunis is convincing as the scheming new girl Cindy… while Kristen Wiig, Clifton Collins Jr., Beth Grant, Gene Simmons, and Dustin Milligan add to the solid mix with their characters.

Where the characters are fun and interesting, and there are some funny jokes – the story never completely connects with everyone or gains any real comedic momentum - just several mildly amusing jokes and funnies.  The movie is very deliberate and matter-of-fact, even slow for some… and while it gets where its going in the story, it is not overly entertaining.

While the cult-classic Mike Judge movie “Office Space” focuses on workers in an office, this movie focuses more on the boss in a factory… those two differences may be the reason why it didn’t connect to me on a personal level.  I’m curious if this is funnier to anyone who has worked in a factory and/or is the boss of a business.  (If so, please post a comment below)

THE BOTTOM LINE:

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“Get Smart” is a respectable remake from a TV classic, with plenty of action and plenty of laughs.

Going into seeing this movie, I had concerns in comparison to the classic TV series that there’s an age difference between Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway… and that was explained, the difference in time between the CONTROL Agency set in the 1960′s in the TV version and the modern day CONTROL are also explained early on.
(Other than the original Maxwell Smart – Don Adams) Steve Carell seems born to play this role… serious or comedic at all the right times, bumbling in most scenes with real action hero moves in others.  

Anne Hathaway is a great compliment, Alan Arkin is great as the Chief, Terenace Stamp is great as the leader of CHAOS, Dawyne (“The Rock”) Johnson, Masi Oka (“Heroes”) and the entire supporting cast are solid.

The overall storyline is fairly predictable, but how they get from plotpoint to plotpoint with Carell’s goofiness is funny and less predictable.

This was a pleasant surprise, but die hard fans of the classic TV show may feel different.

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