Yeah, that’s right, Y&H had high hopes for Mike Judge’s new comedy, Extract, which is set in a food flavoring factory. I was hoping for something as dementedly funny as the scene from Judge’s Office Space, in which a gaggle of cubicle drones drags a malfunctioning fax machine into the woods and beats the crap out of it with a baseball bat — as Geto Boys’ “Still” plays in the background.

Alas, the early word is decidedly mixed. CP‘s Tricia Olszewski calls Extract “amiable enough to produce constistent chuckles, if only the occasional gut-busting laugh,” which practically sets Judge up for an Oscar nomination compared to Dan Zak’s review in today’s Post.

Writes Zak:

“Extract” may be the most disappointing American comedy of the decade, partly because it’s jokeless and joyless but mostly because it squanders an all-star cast of superb comic talent. Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Mila Kunis, David Koechner, Ben Affleck and their director (Mike Judge, creator of “Office Space” and TV’s “King of the Hill”) have violated the trust of their respective fan bases by participating in this extremely dismal project. “Extract” is a deflated balloon, a sour grape, a real Eeyore of a movie.

Yikes, how to reconcile the two perspectives? I think my trip to the theater has turned into a click on Netflix.