Ben Affleck's Forgotten Comedy Flop Is #1 on Streaming Right Now
Back in 2009, Extract came and went without much fanfare.
It made $10.8 million at the box office, got a few decent reviews, and promptly vanished. Now, sixteen years later, it's suddenly the #1 movie on Paramount+. Because of course it is.
It's fitting, really—a film about soul-sucking mediocrity quietly climbing to the top long after anyone cared. Directed by Office Space creator Mike Judge, Extract was supposed to be his next cult classic. Instead, it got lost in the release shuffle, buried under studio indifference and the curse of mid-budget comedies.
Now, audiences are rediscovering it—not because the algorithm is kind, but because everything else on Paramount+ apparently feels worse.
Jason Bateman stars as a bored flavor extract factory owner going through a crisis, and Ben Affleck shows up looking like a man who sells oregano in a parking lot. The film features Kristen Wiig, Mila Kunis, Clifton Collins Jr., and yes, Gene Simmons, who somehow doesn't ruin it.
And if you're wondering why it took so long to get made, Bateman had some thoughts. In an interview with Collider, he said:
"Mike Judge was 90% of the reason why I joined the film. I read the script and loved that… It took about 3 years until we got the right kind of money so he could have some autonomy."
Translation: no studio wanted to fund a movie about factory workers and sexual frustration unless there was a superhero in it.
The movie didn't totally bomb with critics—some even said it was Judge's best film. But it fell into the same trap most workplace comedies do: too quiet, too dry, and too real to sell popcorn. Now that people are willing to sit through anything as long as it's under two hours and not a reboot, Extract finally gets its due.
If you're curious what this sudden streaming hit actually delivers, here's what you're signing up for:
- An existential meltdown over molasses barrels
- Ben Affleck in a drugstore wig handing out terrible advice
- Kristen Wiig weaponizing passive aggression
- A subplot involving a gigolo, because why not
- And a lot of painfully accurate takes on corporate HR
Clocking in at 91 minutes, Extract isn't here to change your life. It's just the perfect storm of awkward silence, bad decisions, and Mike Judge cynicism. Which might explain why it's finally found an audience in 2024: everyone's miserable, and this movie gets it.