Humpday

source: Humpday

Mediocre mumblecore. Joshua Leonard, a drifter and self-described artist, arrives at old best friend Mark Duplass' home in the middle of the night looking for a place to crash. Duplass' wife (Alycia Delmore) is kindly and accepting. The day after, Leonard and Duplass skip Delmore's home cooked meal to hang out with a group of hippies who introduce them to "Hump Fest", an amateur * festival. In a marijuana haze, the two friends joke that it would be awesome for them to make a * where two straight best friends had sex with each other. The next day, they remember the dare, and strangely they both refuse to back down from it. I'll stop right there with the plot. The big thing with this film is that the proposal never makes any sense. It's all forced. These two guys have no reason why they want to screw, and their overlong discussions of the upcoming event cement the fact that these two people in real life would laugh the dare off the next morning and that would be it. Humpday is another in a recent trend of movies made by women about two straight, male best friends getting together and having sex (also see Brokeback Mountain (written by a woman) and Old Joy). I really trump this up to being little more than a sexual fantasy of the filmmakers. If a man wrote and directed a movie about two female friends realizing they are lesbians or have lesbian tendencies, it would be dismissed as sexist and a piece of cheap male fantasy. The opposite situation, with women finding homosexual male sex erotic, is a less publicized but completely common phenomenon. Plus, women don't really understand male/male friendship anyway (two women can never be as close friends with each other as two men), and thus they like to attribute a sexual yearning to such relationships. Yes, these three films are artful (Humpday is much less so than the other two), but they are all, inherently, garbage.

This film is about two guy friends who have to deal with their drunken pledge to make a * movie with each other. I think "Humpday" is wrongly marketed as a comedy, which makes viewers expect things which are not in the film. The first half is far too slow to be a comedy, and the second half is far too heavy on words. The pacing and the tone are just not right to be a comedy. It might be entertaining to see two guys trying to work their way out of the awkward situation without having to sacrifice their reputation, but there is simply not enough material to fill 90 minutes. The film stretches for far too long, and it gets quite boring. I think it would have been better marketed as an indie drama.

Two close friends (Ben, played by Mark Duplass, and Andrew, played by Joshua Leonard) grapple with the following dilemma. Can two straight men engage in gay sex, film it, and hope to win a prize at The HUMP! annual film festival in Seattle, Washington? HUMPDAY is a sly and witty examination of sexual attitudes which, at times, is as disconcerting as it is nearly hilarious. Ben is married, and he and his wife are about to start a family, while Andrew is a Free Spirit who sees himself as kind of a marginal player on the international art scene. One night at a party in a Free Love commune, the two men drunkenly come up with a possible brand-new approach to the Genre of Pornography. Why not have two straight men do a gay * flic. This becomes the odd and unsettling conundrum for the movie. Is it possible for two straight men to engage in gay sex, or would the act itself preclude that they were gay at the outset? The viewer watches as Ben and Andrew squirm with the unstated (and frightening) query, am I gay, or closer truth, just exactly how straight am I? Maybe the real message of the film is that as much as we feel that we have completely settled on our sexual identity, the true nature of sex might be much more fluid. Personal sexual attitudes are not really laws which are set in stone, but maybe they are just guidelines which are subject to change and reinvention as circumstances change. The film doesn't resolve the issue, but it certainly presents a dizzying collection of cringe inducing questions which highlight this quandary. HUMPDAY could be seen as a possible companion piece to the wonderfully disquieting film, CHUCK AND BUCK.

Two straight guys decide to make a porno where they are the ones having intercourse with each other. Do I have your attention? Well, that is the premise of Humpday, winner of the Special Jury Prize at this year's Sundance Film Festival. After I watched the trailer for this movie I knew that I was going to be in for something very different. Although that is the main storyline of the film there is so much more going on. Ben (Mark Duplass) lives a quiet life with his wife Anna (Alycia Delmore). They have a nice home, a healthy relationship, and are trying to start a family. One night Ben's old friend Andrew (Joshua Leonard) drops in out of the blue. It's been a long time since the two have spent time together and they have a lot to catch up on. When Andrew ends up at a girls house he invites Ben over. After drinking too much alcohol, they two friends wind up in a conversation about a local * festival where the films are meant to be more artsy than sexual. Ben and Andrew see the only possible way to make a splash would be to film themselves having sex because it would be about their love and how strong their friendship is. The next day, needless to say the conversation hasn't gone away, and after their hangover's lift, they discuss further about whether or not to go through with their plan or not. Problems arise with Ben wife, manhood being questioned, and the actual act of following through with a plan like this. This film is more than just about two guys trying to make a porno. It's about what defines a friendship and what the best way of expressing it would be. It's about the difference between doing something because you want to do it or because you are being forced into it. It's about art versus pride. It's about what constitutes a fulfilled life. It's about a lot of things. Yes, two guys making a porno is one of them. Writer/director Lynn Shelton, who appears as the woman Andrew meets, has created a very personal and intelligent look into something absurd and intoxicating. She films from a documentary, guerrilla style, weaving amongst the characters and sitting with them almost as if they all know that the crew is there. It's sort of like The Office, except the camera is not a character but our portal into this story. The conversations and situations make the audience go into their uncomfortable zone, stay there a while, and come back out and see how much you've changed. It's such an enjoyable experience. All of the actors but especially Duplass and Leonard as Ben and Andrew make this such a realistic and intimate film. They made me feel like that they actually had been friends for a long time. I feel like some people, maybe even a lot of people will be uncomfortable watching this, but that is the point. We are uncomfortable because they too are uncomfortable. It's hard to watch people struggle with difficult situations like this, but it is how they work it out that makes it all worth while. I was very moved by how thoughtful and well conceived the film was. This is a rare gem.

"Humpday," Lynn Shelton's indie about straight men attempting gay * for an erotic film festival, has been praised for its honest portrayal of male relationships, but any goodwill I had for the film was squandered on the intensely dislikable protagonist, the (come on) unbelievable plot line, and complete lack of dramatic payoff. "Humpday" is a stillborn Sundance fiasco with few if any redeeming qualities. The premise, while certainly original, takes shape only after overcoming a rickety stepladder of clichéd comic situations. You know them: crazy old friend needs a place to crash, husband forgets wife's special dinner, husband lies, digs himself deeper. The situations might have been forgivable in an ends-justify-the-means sort of way, but the film is being sold on its premise and its title, and fails to deliver as advertised. The principal cast is small and they argue a lot. There's Ben (Mark Duplass), the idiot husband who plays both sides, either blaming his wild friend for his own decisions or condescendingly touting his "great" relationship with his wife as a wildcard for his reckless behavior, his buddy Andrew (Joshua Leonard), the slovenly, worldly hipster whose artsy lesbian acquaintances spark the drunken conversation that leads to the auspicious idea, and Ben's eternally forgiving wife, Anna (Alycia Delmore), whose ability to tolerate her husband's stupidity is surely her greatest asset. Most of their dialogue is improvised, and the film frequently feels more like six fifteen minutes scenes than a properly paced comedic feature. The laughs are few and far between the clunky roundabout verbal tennis matches, and are completely undercut by the characters. It's assumed we feel Ben and Andrew's friendship at least peripherally, and the filmmaker portrays them as lovable, misguided heroes, though the 'misguided' bit is the only part that really seeps through. Worse yet, the script only lamely attempts to legitimize Ben or Andrew's inexplicable desire to see the act to its completion. Even sober, neither will back out of having sex with the other, in what we can only assume is the female writer/director's misinformed representation of machismo. And when Ben tells his wife, "I'm not sure why I want to do this," it reads as a screenwriter's confession. The two behave like stubborn children for an hour, only to somewhat appropriately chicken out when the moment arrives, and the film becomes more an examination of exceedingly weak characters than their bond of friendship as a result. "Humpday" brings very little to the independent film scene, and is never as funny or controversial as the trailer might lead you to believe. Truth told, the film plays it safe, reducing its homosexual content to the type of jokes you would expect in any given PG-13 sex comedy. There's precious little genuine human interaction on display, and while the cop- out ending imagines itself a more profound statement than its alternative, it ultimately cancels out the only interesting thing the film has going for it. It's a reaction I couldn't anticipate, but I've never been so disappointed by a lack of gay *.

This film promises a lot, delivers some, but then tails away. At the end I wondered if they had run out of money. The two main characters are likable and different, and you can see why they would get on, if not get it on. The setup is gentle and convincing. The tension between Ben (Mark Duplass) and Anna (Alycia Delmore) is beautifully built up, so the moment she learns what Ben and Andrew (Joshua Leonard) have planned is the high spot of the film. From there it's a slow slide downhill. What happens is probably what would happen, but it's strangely unsatisfying. One reason is that the last half hour or more is stuck in a hotel room, "very beige" as Andrew says, more or less. Five minutes more could have wrapped it up so much better: * if we had seen Anna's reaction to Ben's version of events. * if we had seen the Dionysiacs' reaction to Andrew's version of events (in fact those two could have made a nice point-counterpoint) * if they had gone to Humpday and seen what they were up against. If they had persuaded Anna to go, her reaction would have been really interesting. One problem for a gay viewer (and this film is likely to be touted to a gay audience) is that the central issue - sex between men - carries so much more tension than it need. And sex between straight men? The vids are full of it. (I learnt something useful near the beginning. If someone is texting during a movie, a good way to make them stop is to shine a torch in their face and tell them to stop or leave. A little LED torch on a keyring works well.)

Movie about two college friends Andrew (Joshua Leonard) and Ben (Mark Duplass) getting together years after college. Ben has settled down and is happily married to Anna (Alycia Delmore). Andrew is single and somewhat wild. During one drunken night Andrew and Ben said they'll make a film of themselves for a sex film festival--they'll film themselves making love. The next day they regret it but neither one will back down. And who's going to tell Anna? This sounds like it has the makings of a dirty adult comedy...but it isn't. There are some very funny parts in it but mostly they deal with the situation in a realistic manner. It works because the script is very well-written and refuses to back down or take the easy way out. It's also an adult movie--it doesn't talk down to its audience or dumb it down for teenagers. Add to that three great performances by all the leads--especially Delmore. This is the type of movie that you see with friends and discuss afterwards. I saw it at the Provincetown Film Festival and the reaction was mixed. Some people (like me) loved it. Others thought it backed down at the end (I disagree). A well-done thought-provoking film. It is a little too long but worth catching. Recommended.

The bulk of the film for me felt like having a heart to heart talk with a lover which isn't really something that I want to pay money to do. I was constantly feeling bad for the things that the characters were putting each other through. While I found the interactions to be realistic, it was so strenuous! It was nice to get a laugh once the two guys tried in a half-assed manner to get down to business, but then there was the sadness that again showed up once the two started to realize that they were going to give up yet another thing. They're locked into that same pattern of not being able to follow through with things. I'm really disappointed by this film. Good acting, annoying camera direction, and a plot device that could easily have fit a 90 minute film, but just couldn't seem to the way it was envisioned. Ah well. Oh, and it was too weird realizing that was Josh from Blair Witch!

It's simplistic and inaccurate to say this is a movie about homophobia. The two guys are not homophobic in the least. If anything it's about peer pressure and machismo, albeit in an unconventional, post-feminist context. The movie's framework, two straight guys considering whether or not to have sex with each other for an Art/Porn movie, generates an absurd dialog. Does Art justify a willful, forced, deviation from the norm, or is a willful, forced, deviation from the norm automatically Art? The subtext is about moving out of your comfort zone, and your motivation for doing so. I went into this not knowing what to expect. As a gay man, I resisted it, finding the plot line forced. But as it went on, I bought into it. I think it was the two main actors who sold it, primarily. The premise sounds comic and coarse, but the storyline is actually subtle and gentle. Not easy to sell that kind of bait and switch.