As a general rule, I avoid any film with trailers featuring men getting hit in the crotch, mostly because I enjoy movies that are original and don't rely on tired physical comedy. However, I found myself partaking of director Mike Judge's new film Extract this weekend, despite an awareness that the film's plot springs forth from some dude's damaged loins, not unlike the way in which Aphrodite was born from the severed junk of Ouranos.However, in mythological terms, Extract is more of a Hephaestus than an Aphrodite; seeing this film-which follows extract factory owner Joel (Jason Bateman) as he deals with issues at work and in his personal life-is akin to watching a formerly mighty Olympian limp along with delusions of grandeur; the fact of that matter is that Judge is no longer the talented titan he once was, but he seems to think every line he writes is gold, as all of said lines are repeated by his characters 10 to 15 times.

Indeed, Extract feels like one 30-minute film that is looped three times; the characters are moderately original, but they have the same discussions over and over and essentially say the same things (almost word for word in some particularly severe cases) every time we see them. To make lackluster matters even more uninteresting, what the characters have to say isn't particularly novel even the first time they utter their assorted ideologies and complaints. For instance, the dilemma on which Joel discourses the most is the subject of his wife Suzie's (Kristen Wiig) sexual frigidity. And Joel's friend Dean (Ben Affleck) spends the majority of his limited screen time pushing Joel to try a variety of different drugs.

Thus, the film essentially unfolds as follows:

Joel: "My wife wears sweatpants and won't have sex with me! Also, one of my new employees is hot, but I don't know whether I should tap that."

Dean: "The solution to everything is drug use!"

Suzie: "I'm so [insert excuse not to have sex here, e.g., 'tired,' 'busy,' etc]."

Later:

Joel: "An employee of mine was injured at my factory and I am now facing a huge lawsuit, but my primary concern is still banging that hot chick."

Now, repeat this same discussion several times in various locations. Congratulations, you just captured the essence of Extract! No, I will not pay you seven dollars for that performance, you hack.

Further, Judge's Extract recycles character archetypes used to much better ends in his 1999 work Office Space: The latter film's everyman with the less-than-faithful significant other, his cynical coworker, the hot prospective girlfriend and an assortment of other familiar faces all appear in Judge's latest work.

The film does have its bright spots, however; when Wiig's character is actually given original dialogue, Suzie is hilarious. This is particularly true when she's interacting with Brad (Dustin Milligan), a landscaper-cum-gigolo who actually makes the film's repetitive nature work. For example, one of Extract's running gags is the need for certain characters to repeat simple ideas to the moronic Brad, and Suzie's exasperation and Brad's earnest nature make for several humorous scenes featuring this bit. And, Bateman and Affleck-despite their characters' tendencies to spout tedious chatter-still manage to be endearing.

In essence, Extract is certainly true to advertisers' claims that the film is "100 percent pure Mike Judge." However, the product is so stale it seems as though it has been sitting on the shelf for quite some time, and it is ultimately only salvaged by a few fresh faces. Consume at your own risk.