(Wait… what? You guys are going to do WHAT!?!?!)
CAST: Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard, Alycia Delmore, Lynn Shelton, Trina Willard.
DIRECTOR: Lynn Shelton
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and one really compelling reason not too drink too much around your drinking buddies - straight ahead…
IT’S LIKE THIS: You’re all familiar with the term “Designated Driver”, right? Someone who purposefully doesn’t drink so that he/she can keep all the drunk fuckers at the party from killing themselves on their way home? Well, someone should amend the “Party Constitution Manual” to expand the duties/responsibilities of the “Designated Driver”. Specifically, those chosen for this hallowed position should also look out for their inebriated comrades AT the party - not just when driving them home AFTER. As in: monitor their drunken conversations to ensure they don’t end up making outlandishly asinine dares such as the one at the center of our next review, the indie darling HUMPDAY. And I assure the movie isn’t about “Wednesday”. If it were, we wouldn’t need a “designated driver”.
Our “heroes” are two former college buds: (1) Ben (Mark Duplass), sane-and-settled Seattle yuppie who is trying to start a family with his wife Anna (Alycia Delmore); and (2) Andrew (Joshua Leonard), stoned-and-soused hippie who thinks he’s still an undergraduate and has no intentions of settling down - ever, apparently. Ben’s world is all fine until Andrew comes trekking back into it. And before you know it, the buttoned-up Ben is hanging out again with Andrew and a bunch of hipster lesbos - and slammin’ back lots of judgement-impairing alcohol. Which leads to the reason why they should’ve had a designated driver with them that night…
You see, in the middle of their drunken stupor, Ben and Andrew hear about some amateur porn film festival called, ahem, “Humpfest”. And being drunk, stupid characters in a “clever“ indie film, they hit on the idea of making a movie of them… having sex. Their hook? Simple: “Two straight guys having sex is beyond gay!” Um, yes, it is. It is idiotic. Ben and Andrew somehow think this shit is actually original, novel, and will win them the top prize at, ahem, “Humpfest“. Completely overlooking the fact that two pale, tubby, okay-looking, hetero white guys porking each other is about as erotic as watching a blind person devein a shrimp. And about as awkward, too. It’s not like these guys are GQ models or anything like that. That would be a different story. Very different.
THE DUDE (OR DUDETTE) MOST LIKELY TO SAVE THE DAY: The guys are so busy trying to prove who’s the bigger stud (stupid men), to realize the colossal blunder they are planning. So its up to Anna to try and talk some sense into these chuckleheads. Good luck, girl. You’ll need it.
EYE CANDY MOST LIKELY TO FIRE UP A WOODY: Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard, and Alycia Delmore are reasonably attractive.
MOST INTENTIONALLY EXCITING SCENE: Anna discovering the true details of Ben and Andrew’s, ahem, project…
MOST UNINTENTIONALLY HILARIOUS SCENE: Ben and Andrew trying to “suck face” for the first time. That shit is enough to make Elton John go straight…
HOTTEST SCENE: Um… none. Really. After watching this movie, I’m ready to fly to L.A. and party hardy at the Playboy Mansion. If you know what I mean. Or call up Chris Evans’ Twin for an intervention. Seriously.
INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW: Will Ben and Andrew, two Grade-A straighties, go through with this colossally stupid idea? Who the hell wants to see two thoroughly-ordinary-looking heteros fuck each other? It’s not like we’re taking about Sam Worthington and Gerard Butler here. Will Anna put a stop to this nonsense? Or will Ben and Andrew just run roughshod over her? What are their motivations, anyway? Is one or both of them a closet case - and is using the movie as an excuse to explore his sexuality? And what happens when “Humpday” finally arrives? Will they both get it up? Or is someone going to have to chug a Viagra shake? Who cares. I’m going to fuck Chris Evan’s Twin’s brains out now to erase the memory of this movie.
WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH “HUMPDAY”: If you like talky, quirky, reasonably funny, but also somewhat overrated indie flicks. If so, pull up a chair…
WHY YOU MAY NOT ENJOY “HUMPDAY”: If you don’t like talky, quirky, reasonably funny, but also somewhat overrated indie flicks. If so, pull out of this one and stick it in a big, expensive studio movie instead.
BUT, SERIOUSLY: An audience darling at the 2009 Sundance 2009 Film Festival (where it won the Audience Award) HUMPDAY was mostly well-received during its release. I didn’t see this film until last year, when a reader recommended it as a review. Based on all the positive critiques and word-of-mouth, it was easy to believe that HUMPDAY was a modern comedy classic. The reality is very different. Is HUMPDAY a good movie? In my opinion, not quite. It’s definitely far from being a bad movie, and broaches some very intriguing ideas. Unfortunately, like other elements in the film, it is half-baked and not fully realized - and doesn’t quite live up to all the hoopla surrounding it.
My main issue with HUMPDAY is the same quibble I had with THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (another interesting but flawed film): it is largely improv. Now, improv can yield some truly inspired comic and/or dramatic gold - but it can also lead to some endless and unfocused meanderings. This was very true of BLAIR WITCH, which had tension and suspense that was constantly being undercut by some unfocused scenes and improv dialogue on the part of its performers. The same thing occurs in HUMPDAY - much of the dialogue of the characters in HUMPDAY is made up on the spot, and while it does occasionally lend the film some depth and amusement, it also goes on far too long than necessary. Instead of feeling as if you’re watching characters interacting, you instead get the sense of actors being unleashed to do their thing - and it actually takes away somewhat from the naturalism of the film. Ironically, for all of HUMPDAY’s “mumblecore” unadorned pedigree, you can’t help but feel you are watching just another “stagey” movie.
The actors themselves are competent. Unfortunately, I just don’t think they delivered any convincing characters - but, rather, were only giving endless speeches. There’s a difference between creating a full-blooded, three-dimensional, unique character - and just making up lines that are purportedly interesting. Alycia Delmore as Anna fares better than Mark Duplass and Joshua Leonard as Ben and Andrew, primarily because we can totally relate to her disbelief at what her husband and his best friend are attempting to do. It’s only later when she calmly lets them do as they please “to get it out of your system” that Anna starts to appear as contrived as Ben and Andrew.
This lack of actual written dialogue may be the reason why it’s hard to buy into Ben and Andrew’s dare. I understand that males can be irrationally competitive at times, but two straight men reluctant to be the first to back down from a drunken bet to sleep with each other (especially when one of them is married and starting a family) is simply ridiculous. And while Duplass and Leonard are decent actors, they do not quite get us to suspend our disbelief and buy into Ben and Andrew’s motivations. Towards the end of the film, Ben does provide something of an explanation when he talks about a surprisingly powerful same-sex attraction he had to a male video store clerk when he first moved to the big city. This is ostensibly supposed to provide the impetus for Ben to pursue the “Humpfest” project with Ben - to find out if he has any secret desires for men. Unfortunately, because of the lack of a carefully crafted script, it feels like something pulled out of mid-air and not a motivation organic to the plot. In the end, it’s just another bit of improv.
I have to state again that HUMPDAY is not a bad film, or even average one. It is an interesting but flawed one - proof that just because you have a clever idea, doesn’t mean you automatically have a good film. You also must have the right execution. And in my opinion, they should’ve used an actual written script and jettisoned the improv.
