Extract

Aroview: Graduating here as a comic leading man, Jason Bateman plays a factory owner juggling a myriad of personal and professional problems in this under-rated comedy from social satirist, Mike Judge.

Returning to the American workplace after the cult comedy OFFICE SPACE, he this time pokes affectionate fun at blue-collar archetypes, and it plays rather like a live-action version of his unassumingly brilliant animated series, KING OF THE HILL. His leisurely style and superior wit elevate him above his 'quirky comedy' contemporaries (perhaps ranking alongside say, the Coen Bros.), and his ensemble cast are entirely equipped with perfectly-'Judged' comic timing. Laughs aside, it also carries a timely, bittersweet message about the dignity of labour and community and the fragility of the business eco-system in modern-age America.

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