I think Mike Judge thinks that everybody except himself is an idiotic jerk. It comes out in "King of the Hill", it came out in "Idiocracy", and it comes out in "Extract".
Of course, in ways, everybody is or can be idiotic and jerkish, but his pattern of surrounding a so-called "reasonable" man with morons who cause him to suffer needlessly is tired. Supporting characters in a Judge piece are to be laughed AT, not WITH.
The wonderful thing about Michael Bluth on "Arrested Development" was that, even though he was the MOST sympathetic member of the family (possibly excepting George-Michael), he was not himself immune from behaving badly. He THOUGHT of himself as virtuous, but it was clear to the audience that he was deeply flawed.
In "Extract", Bateman likewise plays a man who is more sinned-against than sinning, but I felt like we were expected to EXCUSE him for his own misdeeds because he was "driven" or "tricked" into them. The disingenuity of this approach was disappointing. And poor Kristin Wiig looked like she was given absolutely NO direction about what her character was supposed to be feeling about anything.
Of course, all of this would have been forgivable if the movie had simply been FUNNIER.
Of course, in ways, everybody is or can be idiotic and jerkish, but his pattern of surrounding a so-called "reasonable" man with morons who cause him to suffer needlessly is tired. Supporting characters in a Judge piece are to be laughed AT, not WITH.
The wonderful thing about Michael Bluth on "Arrested Development" was that, even though he was the MOST sympathetic member of the family (possibly excepting George-Michael), he was not himself immune from behaving badly. He THOUGHT of himself as virtuous, but it was clear to the audience that he was deeply flawed.
In "Extract", Bateman likewise plays a man who is more sinned-against than sinning, but I felt like we were expected to EXCUSE him for his own misdeeds because he was "driven" or "tricked" into them. The disingenuity of this approach was disappointing. And poor Kristin Wiig looked like she was given absolutely NO direction about what her character was supposed to be feeling about anything.
Of course, all of this would have been forgivable if the movie had simply been FUNNIER.