From there the story twists and turns, but I never found myself liking a single character. Oh sure, Ben Affleck plays a great stoner bartender friend to Joel, the Lawrence to Joel's Peter Gibbons, but the audience is never really allowed to like the guy. Nor did I ever like any employee of Reynold's Extract. Beth Grant is a great character actor, the problem is that I've been nothing but annoyed by any of the characters she's ever played.
Gene Simmons is great as an asshole lawyer, but again, nothing about him is likable. Even at their worst, the Bobs from Office Space were still somehow likable, and the awful Bill Lumberg at least got shafted from time to time. Here, the villains never learn and somehow we're all supposed to be happy that all these scumbags get to have happy endings. Even poor Joel, who we only root for because he's constantly shat upon over and over again, gets the saddest happy ending of all.
The one bonus feature on this DVD release is laughingly entitled "Mike Judge's Secret Recipe." It's a shameless fluff marketing piece for the film, packed with the film's stars and key players all praising you, Mr. Judge, for knowing how to craft a comedy masterpiece. Apparently they hadn't seen Extract completed yet. Oh, and the tiresome bit wherein you pretend, Mike, that you have a twin brother playing your cameo role in the film, it's cringeworthy.
So, Mike, it's time for me to say adieu. If I've gotten nothing else out of Extract (and I haven't), it's the realization that it's time for me to move on. Thanks for the memories, and remember, we'll always have Office Space.
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