Have you ever met one of those guys with loads of potential, but he just kind of fritters it away because maybe he’s too lazy, too bored, or possibly too stoned to get motivated? Extract is the movie equivalent of that guy.

We know that writer/director Mike Judge is a funny man. Office Space is justifiably a cult hit and I happen to think that Beavis and Butthead was a major work of cultural satire (no. . .really).

Extract is actually funny in fits and starts. But I kept staring at the screen thinking, “This is the best Mike Judge can do? This is the film he got excited about?” (It’s particularly frustrating considering the fact that Judge has now made a grand total of 3 movies in the past decade. His 2006 film Idiocracy, which I haven’t seen, was initially drubbed by critics, but is now being hailed as an underappreciated gem.)

Extract follows the misadventures of Joel (Jason Bateman), the owner of an extract flavor plant. Joel is a terminally nice guy and, as such, a bit of a doormat. His wife Suzie (Kristen Wiig, playing it mostly straight and showing off a killer body) doesn’t sleep with him anymore (her comfy sweatpants act as a sort of chastity belt), his employees bicker and slack off, and his best friend Dean (Ben Affleck) keeps trying to ply him with narcotics.

The action, such as it were, is set off when the floor manager Step (Clifton Collins Jr.) has a “mid-section” injury at the plant. He’s not the litigious type, but he’s pressured by small-time con artist Cindy (Mila Kunis) to sue. Meanwhile, the super-sexy Cindy has also gotten a job at the plant—and is proving to be a major distraction to Joel (who has no idea she’s behind Step’s lawsuit). Is it fair to cheat on a wife who never sleeps with you?

It’s Dean who comes up with the brilliant plan—hire a male prostitute (Dustin Milligan, blissfully stupid) to seduce Suzie. If she sleeps with him, Joel can cheat on Suzie with impunity. Strangely, Joel agrees to this plan (it may have something to do with the horse tranquilizer Dean gave him.)

Like I said, Extract has funny moments. Judge has a way of depicting the ego of men who think they are much smarter or craftier than they actually are. It never occurs to Step that Cindy might be seducing him for the money. It never occurs to Dean that hiring an amateur gigolo for your buddy’s wife might be a bad plan. It never occurs to Joel’s compulsively irritating neighbor (David Koechner) that Joel hates his guts.

But the film is repetitive and mild-mannered and just kind of there. It might’ve worked as a niche cable comedy series. On the big screen, it’s a major letdown. Whatever dude. Pass the bong.