Chances are, every pantry has a little bottle of pricey vanilla extract on its shelves. It’s practically ubiquitous in baking. Just try to make a cookie without it. But have you ever wondered where it comes from? No. And neither have I. But that’s not going to stop Jason Bateman from trying to tell us.
Joel (Bateman) is one of those classically sad, back-boneless middle aged men who aren’t particularly effective at home or at work. He owns the extract company, but it’s barely profitable and the employees bully him. At home, his wife Suzie (Kristen Wiig) dons her sweatpants in a nightly ritual to thwart his bedtime advances. They’re going through a dry spell. So when Cindy (Mila Kunis), an alluring young woman, comes looking for a job at the factory, can we blame Joel for wanting to give her something else? I mean, yes. We absolutely can. And even Joel is a bit wishy-washy on the whole thing, so it takes the bad influence of his best friend (Ben 
Affleck) to come up with this convoluted plan: they’ll hire a teenage gigolo to seduce Suzie, leaving Joel free to have an affair guilt-free. That’s a legit loophole in the vows, right?
Anyway, turns out Cindy’s a conwoman who’s trying to influence a former employee (Clifton Collins Jr.) to sue Joel for the loss of his testicle. So who, exactly is going to get a happily ever after?
From the mind of writer-director Mike Judge, I expected a lot better from Extract, and I probably shouldn’t have. I mean, it’s funny. And there are a lot of great cast members really selling their parts (David Koechner is a scene-stealer in a part that will infuriate you). None of these things add up to anything significant, but if you can live with some ridiculous, and often ridiculously funny, bits and pieces, you might be able to make this work for you. It’s no Office Space; like the extract itself, a little goes a long way, but if you’ve got a hankering for some ethical flavouring, Extract has the essence.
ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES 
Probably not for me, I don’t bake.
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What a disappointment. Probably watch it on a night I can’t find anything else.
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Hmmm…I kind of like “sexual politics” films IF those deserving of it, get their comeuppance in the end.
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I thought this rung a very vague, distant bell. 2009 flick, I think I may have started it and got no further than the first 10 minutes. Shame given the cast… x
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That’s about the reception it deserves.
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I remember this one. A bit disappointing, cause I was expecting more from it given cast and Office Space, but, aye, funny enough to entertain for a bit.
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Yeah, it’s hollow, but you can do worse (and I have, and will again before the week’s over).
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… and worse will likely be starring Bateman, too.
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Yeah, he can really only play smug assholes (ie, himself) so his range is limited and he seems to just say yes to anything within that range.
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Saw this years ago. Remember it being rather blah. Sounds like we’re on the same page, here.
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When did this come out? It sounds vaguely familiar. Not in “I’ve seen that” familiar. More of a “I remember reading about this” familiar.
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Yeah, it’s old. And forgettable.
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Hmm…well sorry to say, but this one isn’t one I would be interested in seeing (and I don’t bake either so I am with Fraggle 😂😂).
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