'Extract': Comedy of the future

Somewhere in a dorm room in 2020, a kid will be watching "Extract." Probably every moment of every day.

The new comedy from writer-director Mike Judge ("Office Space," "King of the Hill") may not be blockbuster material in the here and now. But it has all the ingredients for cult immortality and will likely live on long after this year's Oscar winners are forgotten.

Jason Bateman stars as Joel, owner of a successful flavor extract company. Unfortunately his love life with wife Susie (Kristen Wiig) is non-existent, so he spends a lot of time talking to his bartender buddy Dean (a bearded Ben Affleck).

Joel's woeful life takes a downturn when an employee (Clifton Collins Jr.) loses a testicle in a bizarre accident, which inspires comely con woman Cindy (Mila Kunis) to try to take advantage of Joel's company.

Except Joel doesn't realize Cindy's a snake; he wants to have an affair with her. To make sure he doesn't feel guilty about this, Dean suggests he hire a witless gigolo (Dustin Milligan) to seduce Susie.

Got that? It will make perfect sense to that kid in the dorm. As will throwaway lines like "I'll be the laughingstock of the grindcore community." This film is filled with such stuff, and it is indeed funny if you can ride the vibe.

The only problem is the film doesn't really go beyond surface funny and fans might expect more from Judge, who also produced possibly the most dystopic film ever, "Idiocracy," while gently tweaking Americana weekly with "King of the Hill."

On the other hand, this movie establishes that Bateman is absolute comedy gold. The guy's every move is genius, no matter what he's in. Swear, he's going to be huge in 2020.

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