”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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Its not Payne-ful, but its not a new action classic, its okay, but I’m not overly excited about this movie.

Maybe if I played the video game that “Max Payne” was based on, I would be more into this movie… but considering it took me about a week to actually finish this review tells you something… right? 

You may or may not know that I actually like Mark Wahlberg in the hero role of these second-rate action movies… but this one is just okay for me.
 

The action was good, the gunfights were good, but the overall feel was like a mix between “Sin City” (2005), ”The Matrix” (1999), “Blade Runner” (1982) and a little bit of “Constantine” (2005)… with the grittiness, otherworldly, and futuristic feel… but it was missing the heart that make those movies much better… except “Constantine”, this movie is better than that.

Wahlberg either ends up playing a pretty good part in movies with critical or popular success: “The Departed” (2006), “The Italian Job” (2003), “The Perfect Storm” (2000)… or playing a pretty good part in movies that don’t get the attention, or good reviews: “We Own the Night” (2007), “Shooter” (2007), “Three Kings” (1999).   For the record I like all of the above to varying degrees.

But “Max Payne” didn’t blow me away… I wasn’t wowed… I wasn’t amazed, I wasn’t on the edge of my seat, surprised by the twists, or clamoring for more… perhaps its because I’m not a teenager who hasn’t seen a similar storyline in at least a dozen movies before it.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

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(RE-POSTING FROM 6/8/08)

“Forgetting Sarah Marshall” – Hard to Forget

“Forgetting Sarah Marshall” is a fun *adult*-comedy… more than just raunchy jokes and sexual inuendos from a cast of familiar young faces from many of TV’s top shows….  this ranks right up there with “There’s Something About Mary”, “Knocked Up”, and “Superbad” in R-Rated Comedies….   but I do have one problem… a problem that makes this movie fall just short of a 7/10 rating…

 “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”

starring Jason Segel (”How I Met Your Mother”), Kristen Bell (”Heroes”), Mila Kunis (”That 70’s Show”), Russell Brand, Bill Hader (“Saturday Night Live”), Jonah Hill (”Superbad”/”Knocked Up”)