Humpday

Lynn Shelton's ostentatiously indie (read: scruffy) comedy-drama revolves around two old pals who agree on a dare to make a short art film to enter into a film festival in which they (two straight guys) have sex. An example of the budding micro-budget “mumblecore” genre, Humpday stars Mark Duplass (a mumblecore director himself) as genial married man Ben, with shaggy-haired Joshua Leonard as his long-absent, vaguely hippie-ish friend Andrew. Unfortunately, the premise is a very slender narrative peg on which to hang an entire plot: not until film's end—when the buddies are in a hotel room trying to overcome their embarrassment—does anybody even raise the question of why straight dudes having sex would be such an earth-shaking artistic statement in the first place. Of course, the story is just an excuse to raise “serious” issues about the possibility of homosexual leanings in heterosexuals, the limits of male friendship, and the strains that buddy bonding rituals put on married couples. While some of the observations in the script (largely improvised by the cast) are solid and often nicely dramatized, overall Humpday's bromance is too threadbare. Optional. [Note: DVD extras include two audio commentaries (the first by director Lynn Shelton, costar Alycia Delmore, cinematographer Benjamin Kasulke, editor Nat Sanders, composer Vinny Smith, and co-producer Jennifer Maas; the second with co-stars Mark Duplass and Joshua Leonard), deleted scenes (20 min.), a behind-the-scenes featurette (6 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for an uneven film.] (F. Swietek)