Extract

There are movies and then there are auteur movies, the films where you refer to the director rather than the title. "Wanna go see the new Tarantino film?" "Is that an early Coen Brothers movie?" Make no mistake--this isn't just an arty pretension. It's admiration and respect for creative minds in an industry where the mainstream is more like a raging river.

Mike Judge is an auteur. No, he's not Kurosawa, but he has a distinct comedic style that he's crafted from the brilliantly subtle subversion of Beavis and Butt-Head to the animated authenticity of early King of the Hill, and culminating with the legendary Office Space. Extract works (hell, even Affleck is funny), but what stood out to me is one of the underlying reasons why. Because this is a Mike Judge movie, we get to see Mike Judge's vision of what this movie should look like. Specifically, what the characters should look like. We get the cinematic equivalent of comfort food: time-tested, go-to character actors who let you know up front that you're in good hands and allow you to sit back and absorb the story. (Just to name a few here--J.K. Simmons, Clifton Collins Jr., Beth Grant--look them up.) It's something viewers should appreciate. PLUS