Humpday (2009) User Reviews

NOT about homophobia!

[ekeby · 7/10 · 5 September 2010]

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.

Starts well, goes downhill, ends prematurely.

[Shuggy · 6/10 · 23 July 2009]

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.)

That famous heterosexual panic

[katiemeyer1979 · 6/10 · 29 July 2009]

I know of a situation very similar to the one presented in the film. This two guys challenge the other about having sex with each other without changing their own perceptions about who they were. It became a big joke because although they got very near, apparently, never ever happened. Funnily enough they both had, separately, an homosexual experience with a stranger. It is absurd to think that two human beings could not make love if there is a minimum of attraction, physical, intellectual, emotional. We have been brain washed about this factor. Homosexuals have no fear, not really, about straight sex but heterosexuals have an irrational fear of gay sex because, I believe, they are terrified of the fact they may like it or feel comfortable with it and then a flood of insecurities will follow. Under that umbrella "Humpday" gets it absolutely right. They don't get to it because of fear of themselves, plain and simple. But the whole thing could have been told in 30 minutes. Improvisations are fun if one has the sense to administrate and cut. Edit, edit and edit leaving the surprises alive and "Humpday" spends an inordinate amount of time saying the same things. However I had fun and the three leads are terrific.

Disappointing.

[wp02366 · 22 October 2011]

As so many here have said, the film started great and promising but disappointed in the end.

What can we learn from it?

a) that the fear of homosexuality is engraved deeper in even most 'open-minded' men than they would expect b) that 'art' - if we expect the social role of art to be overcoming boundaries and to leave traditional ways of thinking behind - requires serious dedication, it doesn't always come easy.

But in both ways, the movie just illustrated the well-known facts, but didn't give us any new ideas, leave alone new ways of how to deal with them any better than Charlie Average would do. These embarrassing (for the viewer!), guilt-ridden conversations between Ben and his wife, the hysterical and annoying laughter of Andrew (or more of Joshua actually? ;-)) and the kamikaze-like ending of the movie just let me want I had saved my time for better things than to raise hopes I might take anything valuable with me from this movie.

Breaking down male homophobia

[C-Younkin · 7/10 · 12 August 2009]

Those thinking that "Humpday" is about any ordinary Wednesday are in for a rude awakening from this flick written and directed by Lynn Shelton. For everyone else, you know you're in for a brave and, at times, very funny account of two straight guys who decide to make a gay porno. The two guys are best friends Ben (Mark Duplass) and Andrew (Joshua Leonard), whose lives have taken very different directions since High School. Ben is married to Anna (Alycia Delmore) with a baby on the way and Andrew is an artist and world traveler spending time with different women and experiences. The night after Andrew just shows up at Ben's doorstep looking to reconnect, the two find themselves at a party (at a house called Dionysus) thrown by Andrew's friend. Alcohol and the bong get passed around, guards are let down, and the conversation turns to sexual pleasures such as letting the dog lick peanut butter off you. Andrew mentions that he'd really like to make an erotic art film and Ben thinks that porn is a dime a dozen and if you really want to make something memorable, it has to be unique. The combination of these ideas plus being intoxicated leads to a pact where the two agree to have sex with one another. Can they do it? Will the two figure things out about themselves? Will Anna go along with it? The later question presents some very funny dance-around-the-subject moments. The developments in this movie about breaking down the walls of male homophobia are interesting. Actual nudity or sex is never shown nor does the movie fall back on crude humor but there is a lot of talk. Both guys feel like they have something to prove; Andrew that he is an uncompromising artist and Ben that he is not the boring, buttoned down family man that people think. Yet both are threatened, Andrew at a dildo introduced during a three-way and Ben at having feelings for a video store clerk. A scene where a basketball game between the two turns into a wrestling match says something for comfortable vs. uncomfortable physical intimacy between men and an honest conversation where Ben and Anna talk of their multi-faceted sexual needs not being met in this relationship alone are nice additions. Of course in the final scene the big question is broken down and analyzed, and some of the funniest stuff the movie has to offer is introduced. Will the physical fear become too real for the guys once hump day finally comes? The film is very talky and the camera work is grainy and dull-looking but what keeps the movie rolling are two very good performances from Duplass and Leonard. Duplass as the buttoned down, responsible Ben and Leonard as the wild-eyed, energetic Andrew; both display a willing but anxious chemistry of two guys who desperately want to be braver than they actually are. "Humpday" isn't always fun to watch but it's brave, funny, and interesting.

Men having sex as art? Hmmmm...not in this film.

[Rupert_B · 6/10 · 25 November 2009]

If a man had written and directed this film, it would have had a different ending. With that said, Lynn Shelton takes us on a feminist ride--after all, two women having sex on film is sometimes considered "art," so why not explore that angle with men? In the final seconds of the film when Andrew stops laughing while looking at what was recorded, I was left with this sense of his longing--for completion of something (as he said), for something more intimate with his good friend, for being part of something greater than himself--all things Ben already had. And even though the idea was booze- and drug-induced, it was Andrew who came up with it to start. Sooo...something else is going on in Andrew's mind, heart and soul. At the end of the day, I ask "Do I care about these characters?" The only one I really cared for was Anna--she had the most to lose and gain from Ben and Andrew's really implausible scheme. Acting okay...Alycia Delmore really stood out, especially in the two scenes when the truths come out.

Interesting movie

[preppy-3 · 7/10 · 23 June 2009]

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.

"Humpday"

[colinrgeorge · 2/10 · 6 April 2010]

"Humpday," Lynn Shelton's indie about straight men attempting gay porn 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 porn.

Hand In Glove

[valis1949 · 9/10 · 13 January 2010]

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 porn 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.

Surprisingly good

[grantss · 7/10 · 13 December 2021]

Surprisingly good. The central plot was so bizarre and risque that I thought it shouldn't work, and would just come out as pretentious. In the end it does work, mostly, because of the wordplay, humour and natural feel to all the relationships and dialogue. The whole movie had this great home movie-type feel.

Great acting all round, especially by the two male leads, Mark Duplass and Joshua Leonard. Apparently a lot of the dialogue was ad-libbed, contributing to the "real" feel.

Too sad with not enough payoff

[Lenoir-2 · 3/10 · 25 December 2009]

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!

Humpday: Slightly too comfortable

[adam-1817 · 8/10 · 18 January 2011]

Being a masculine, wholly heterosexual man, I slipped into my pj's, lit and candle and settled down to watch a movie about 2 straight guys talk themselves into having gay sex.

Humpday is about two best friends, separated by different lifestyles, brought a little too close together again by a "I'm not backing out of this" style drunk/high bet about making a gay art sex video.

Watching these 2 superbly sculpted characters interact is a joy to anyone who has ever had a proper friend...whom they would sleep with on film for art if they had to. Their incredible well portrayed relationship begins to strangely rope you in to kinda wishing they'd go through with the deed, no matter how much the thought initially makes you feel all ewwwww inside.

A few times I caught myself relating a little too much to their plight, and I doubt I'm gonna be able to look at certain friends of mine again.

The script is bare and honest, perfectly delivered by the 3 main characters, and is a solid foundation for this almost documentary style movie.

All in all, Humpday with not only make you cringe to the corest of your core, but also make you ask a few questions about yourself that you really don't want to be asking.

One of the better movies at Sundance

[jonahsavant · 7/10 · 11 February 2009]

There is some sweetness to Humpday, and that is perhaps it's greatest quality.

I am not a big fan of the mumblecore movement because it seems to attract and be made up of a lot of young people who don't know what to do with themselves. Out of that comes a defensive cleverness that I find dull and uncreative. That said, this movie has some heart and doesn't take itself too seriously. So, good. Hopefully others will follow suit.

I don't think there is much more to be said. Duplass and Josh Leonard are solid. Lynn Shelton holds up an interesting mirror to her group: Self-conscious anal control freaks posing as relaxed hep cats. Yes, true that.

Hopefully this will be the last porn movie for a while, because not much interesting has come out of the subject matter.

Then again, I'm an old man(44), and what do I know?

Goes slowly downhill

[random_guy2 · 4/10 · 13 June 2009]

What a disappointment. This film started off promisingly, with a very funny premise that is established in a semi-believable way. Sadly, that is really all there is to the film. The funny premise leads nowhere, it is just milked and milked and milked until the audience is no longer laughing, but rather just waiting for it to end. Believability also starts going out the window about halfway through the film, with characters acting and reacting in ways that no human would, but are required contrivances to keep the story rolling along.

I too was not a fan of the overall aesthetic of the film, a sort of forced naturalism, with almost exclusively hand-held camera work, awkward quick focus and zoom changes, and an improvised feel to the dialog. I felt this sharply contrasted with the highly contrived nature of much of the script, and I also feel that it is generally unpleasant anyway.

Great for those who need it, but not for people like me

[jm10701 · 11 February 2010]

I came here after watching it yesterday to write a review of Humpday, but when I found a few excellent reviews already here I changed my mind. Now I've changed my mind again. Although existing reviews express many of my problems with this movie, they do not adequately cover the most important issue.

Although reviewers who liked this movie have correctly noted that it is not about being gay--not even about "going" gay--this movie does present a vivid and disturbing picture of most straight men's attitude toward male homosexuality. To them, sex between two men is deeply repugnant, grossly unnatural and disgusting. The prospect of themselves touching another man sexually is so disturbing that they pee in their pants and act like terrified babies. Is that funny? Not to me. Is seeing it enacted brilliantly on screen enlightening and liberating? Not to me. I've seen it all my life.

I'm going to assume (because it's almost surely true) that the vast majority of Humpday's ardent fans are women, both straight and lesbian, and probably some straight men who consider themselves liberated and enlightened enough to laugh at the foibles of their less enlightened brothers or even at themselves in their own pre-liberation pasts. I suppose I have to allow also for a few self-loathing gay men, because I know they're out there. I'm going to address this review to those women and straight men; the self-loathing gays I'll pray for.

The fact that at least one of the men in Humpday is himself relatively enlightened does not make the movie's offenses any less offensive; it makes them worse, because it also shows how shallow and unreliable that enlightenment actually is. Those straight men who under ideal conditions are wonderfully tolerant of male homosexuality run away in disgust if it gets too close to them personally. It's not unlike the old liberal hypocrisy of advocating racial integration as long as they don't try to move in next door or marry our daughter.

It's never wrong to expose hypocrisy or shallow virtue. It's never wrong to shine the light of truth into the dark, nasty recesses of fear and hatred in all our lives. Humpday does that brilliantly. For the billions of men who are like the two in this move, watching it could be a blessing of incalculable value. And I would never want to deprive the long-suffering and universally abused female majority of any opportunity to see how fundamentally flawed and foolish men can be. I just don't enjoy watching it myself, and here's why:

I am a gay man. Having sex with another man is as natural and healthy to me as breathing. The prospect of sex with a woman is as unnatural and repugnant to me as sex with each other is to the guys in Humpday. But I would never want a woman to have to sit through a movie that shows her brutally and graphically how very disgusting she is to me sexually. However well-adjusted she may be, being told that she disgusts me could hurt her, unnecessarily, and I wouldn't want to do that.

That's exactly how Humpday makes me feel. It reminds me that the world is full of very powerful and likable men who find me disgusting, who would rather die than have to be like me or even risk seeming to be like me, and who would rather have ME die than get too close to them. What I AM disgusts and repels them.

It doesn't matter that the movie is not advocating that attitude. By simply reminding me how prevalent that attitude is, it digs into old wounds and causes me pain that does not add anything good to me.

I don't NEED to be reminded how much straight men despise me underneath whatever civilized veneer they may have put on, any more than African Americans need to be reminded how most in the white majority REALLY feel about them inside. It's painful, and although it IS important information, I'm not one of the ones who needs to see it.

So I appreciate Humpday's artistic excellence. It is one of the most powerful and well-realized movies I've ever seen. But it's not for me or for anyone like me, any more than a beautifully executed movie about rape would entertain or enlighten a victim of rape.

Get over the hump and it's an interesting film

[Movie_Muse_Reviews · 7/10 · 18 January 2010]

To set the record straight -- maybe pun intended -- "Humpday" is not a true gay and lesbian film, nor is it a "bromantic comedy" with homophobic slapstick. Lynn Shelton's film is simple: what if two best heterosexual guy friends somehow got it in their heads that filming themselves having sex with each other would be a good idea? "Humpday" explores the bond between men and the difficulty they have with intimacy, particularly when its sexual in nature.

Ben (Mark Duplass) is a recently married man planning on starting a family when his old best friend, the free-spirited Andrew (Joshua Leonard) shows up at his house in the middle of the night. At a party, the two learn about an amateur porn competition and come up with the idea that two straight best friends having sex with each other would make a real artistic statement. Although they laugh at the idea the next day, their machismo of not wanting to back out in addition to some internally buried needs they feel the film would fulfill turn the idea into a serious project.

The most prominent feature of "Humpday" is its amateur documentary film-making style. Shelton is filming like she's the camerawoman in the Real World house making a reality show. There's an impressive realism with the dialogue and the way the characters relate to one another and it only lets up in a few spots. The story does a great job convincing you that this could theoretically happen even though it never would. I don't think under any other set of circumstances other than the ones Shelton has imagined would something like this legitimately take place. Duplass, Leonard and Alycia Delmore as Ben's wife do their best to convince you otherwise. They really seem like legitimate people in real-life relationships.

At many points in the film, Ben and Andrew address why they're doing this. It's an important question to the film and one that should also be asked of Shelton too. At times "Humpday" is supposed to be funny but there's a lot of it which is meant to be taken seriously. You start to wonder yourself -- namely if you're a straight man -- if you'd be able to go through with it which is one of the film's great strengths. At other times, you kind of wonder why the issue has been blown up this much in the first place.

I think Shelton made this film because she wanted to explore the male bond and this was really the way to pull and push at it and manipulate it: by creating these circumstances. The film is surprisingly perceptive with some interesting insights into relationships but it gets a bit too hung up on two guys talking about having sex with each other and will they or won't they.

"Humpday" is an LGBT film in the sense that it comes from a very sexually open and progressive mindset. There are a couple women in the film for example, one played by Shelton in fact, that are in a relationship but one is into Andrew as well. In that sense LGBT characters are a significant part of the film, but they mostly add to the discussion of sexuality and relationships as seen through these two best friends. Lose any expectations that the poster art and brief summary provide and "Humpday" will leave you pleasantly surprised.

~Steven C

Visit my site http://moviemusereviews.com

A Nutshell Review: Humpday

[DICK STEEL · 7/10 · 7 November 2009]

Awarded the Sundance Special Jury Prize, the premise is pretty much hilariously insane, though I'm not sure if there will really be straight guys out there who will decide to go do it with their male best friends, perhaps only in a state of drunken stupor with false bravado in not wanting to lose face? Which is exactly how this film portrayed its lead protagonists in their attempt to justify their once-in-a-lifetime project pact using a film festival as an end to justify their means.

Ben (Mark Duplass) and Anna (Alycia Demore) are a happily married couple who are quite fixed in the formula of how life should be like, and are perhaps living it up quite blissfully until Ben's best friend Andrew (Joshua Leonard) comes gatecrashing into their peaceful lives in the wee hours of one fine early morning, and hence becomes the perfect fodder for some shenanigans to follow, being the disruptive force that he is. You know how it is when a stranger to the wife comes knocking on the door, and the couple's dynamics shift instantly because on false good graces she has to become the gracious host in putting up with someone's innate ability to steal away the husband's time. Think You Me and Dupree.

In a drunken, doped state at a spaced out party one day which Anna of course decided to pass on, Ben and Andrew declare that they will be submitting their own "art" film to a film festival, the hump festival, but since it's no kick to submit just another porn film, they decide that their straight orientation going all out for each other, would be the draw to win top prize. You know how it is when best friends dare each other, and eventually it's taken for real because nobody wants to lose face, or be perceived as chicken. They deem that their brotherly love would transcend the icky-ness that comes with the thought, and in order to strike while the iron is hot and to prove their respective sincerity, they will film themselves having sex in a few day's time.

Which of course Ben's marital status proves to be the ultimate stumbling block, because he has account for his actions to Anna. Writer-director Lynn Shelton seemed to have followed a popular formula that has a narrative film look like a documentary with its shaky cam and what felt like ad-libbed, unscripted dialogue that the last film I remembered which did something like that, was Rachel Getting Married. The gem here is how Shelton got the small cast to interact with each other which was vividly real rather than something which was rehearsed to death, and crafted characters which are fleshed out wonderfully by the small cast, in which the director herself starred in too as a bisexual.

Whatever the premise is, we can easily identify with how far we would let a dare go and how often we do so in order not to lose face. The trick is of course knowing when to back down and to do so without being perceived as chicken. These human condition issues and situations get totally played out in perfect manner with Humpday.

A Solid 7

[gbyzp · 7/10 · 10 October 2021]

It is true that the pacing of this story is slow.

I think this film does an okay job wrestling with heteronormative views of sexuality in a changing world.

Two straight men wrestling with the idea of making a gay porn forces them to face their own inner demons about who they are and how they got to this point.

Additionally, in its own way the movie underscores that ones sexuality is not a choice.

I think the awkwardness in the story, the lumbering clunkiness of the pacing, and the low quality filming techniques play well in making us face our own discomfort.

So - while the movie is not "GREAT" it is definitely a solid 7 stars in my book.

A movie about straight "dudes" playing chicken

[eddax · 5/10 · 16 February 2010]

Humpday was a downhill slide.

It's a movie that's just about entirely conversation, and it began refreshing, with two seemingly open-minded straight men discussing doing a porn together as an art piece. As the movie progressed however, the characters devolved into two straight "dudes" playing chicken as to who's gonna back out of their project first.

And here's a big SPOILER.

Nothing happens. They don't do it. The movie ends. Honestly, after all the build- up, even if this denouement is more realistic, you'd think there'll be some kind of a payoff. Maybe you'd enjoy this movie for its witty banter, but I was a little cranky by its end because it was filmed with a hand-held cam. JezuzXrist, movies need to come with motion sickness advisory warnings.

How far are you willing to go for a friend?

[moviemanMA · 8/10 · 24 October 2009]

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 pornography 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.

Straight-male masculinity is put to the test

[SONNYK_USA · 7/10 · 14 July 2009]

HUMPDAY Straight-male masculinity is put to the test in this very earnest attempt to explore friendship and sexuality while steering clear of the "b"-word (as in the recently coined bro-mance genre) ... this is NOT a farce!

3 stars [(2009)USA/Magnolia/Rated R] - (1 hr 35 min)

Writer, Director, & Co-star: Lynn Shelton

Original Music by Vince Smith Cinematography by Benjamin Kasulke Editor: Nat Sanders

Cast ... Characters (linked to IMDbPRO.com): Mark Duplass ... Ben (the married guy) Joshua Leonard ... Andrew (Ben's long-lost bohemian pal) Alycia Delmore ... Anna (Ben's wife) Lynn Shelton ... Monica (Andrew's bi-sexual friend) Trina Willard ... Lily (Monica's lesbian lover)

Review:

"Two straight dudes ... bonin'." -Ben

The word 'Humpday' was originally coined as a humorous term for the middle-day of the work week (getting over the hump), and certainly sounds more interesting than the word it replaces: Wednesday.

But now, writer-director Lynn Shelton has adopted the slang-ier meaning of the first syllable 'hump' (have sex) and added a homo-erotic resonance (of sorts).

To sum up, the concept for the film revolves around two straight guys who get talked into making a gay-porn video for a private 'visual arts' festival known as (yet again) HUMPDAY.

Now if homophobic Hollywood had been bold enough to take on this kind of masculinity-defying idea, the result would have been a high-concept farce not unlike the Adam Sandler/Kevin James vehicle "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry," with most of the jokes made at the expense of gay lifestylers rather than for them. Thus defeating the purpose of really exploring how straight men feel about gay sex and how they identify as either gay, "bi", or straight.

Well, third-time narrative-feature director Lynn Shelton is not at all interested in playing this concept for laughs (alone), so don't expect the laugh riot that the title might indicate or an "indie" version of "The Hangover." Shelton is much more interested in frankly exploring what a male-male friendship-bond really is and what's the breaking point for such a relationship.

Is anal sex the dealbreaker? Is just getting naked in front of your BFF an act of gayness? Should a man's wife have any say-so when a friendship is taken to a sexual level? Is this the ultimate test of a friendship and is it one you would ever want to try?

These are uncomfortable questions to ask and answer, and one can see why Hollywood tends to play serious "sexual" material for big laughs, because no one wants to take the mass audience out of their comfort zone.

The much more widely distributed Sascha Baron Cohen vehicle "Bruno" shows all too clearly how sensitive the general public is to flamboyantly gay personalities and, as stated above, it's played for laughs for the most part (with a fair amount of shock value added to the mix).

Which is why "Mumblecore"-style, extremely low-budget films like "Humpday" can exist at all, since even the narrowest of niche audiences is large enough to support an artist's vision (if the artist is willing to shoot digitally with a non-union cast & crew). These artists can go where "profit-conscious" Hollywood can't.

And they do.

And best of all, these genre-busting, limited release, art-house vid-films ("Baghead," etc.) occasionally eclipse Hollywood's big-budget Oscar contenders by revealing the truth in a totally new way or discovering a fresh talent.

As an audience member, I felt some sections of "Humpday" were uncomfortable to watch, and a portion of the semi-improvised dialogue could have been sharpened, but at the same time, the performance of Alycia Delmore was worth the price of admission alone. As Ben's wife 'Anna', Delmore's performance is as true, spontaneous, and award-worthy as anything the Oscar-folk will nominate at the end of the year.

Thus proving the idea that you don't need big stars and a multi-million dollar budget to make cinema. Now all you have to do is ask yourself one last question: Am I ready for Mumblecore?

"You're not as Kerouac as you think you are." -Ben

Ugh, just ugh.

[blott2319-1 · 2/10 · 5 April 2021]

There's next to nothing that I found enjoyable in any fashion when watching Humpday. This is a film that brings together two relatively unlikable protagonists, that share the kind of friendship I see in movies but cannot relate to in any fashion. Their friendship doesn't seem healthy, and they allow this vileness to destroy the real relationship one of them has been enjoying up to that point. Even worse is when they start justifying their actions, which begins the game of chicken that leads to the climax of the movie. I cannot stand the series of stupid things that these characters must do in order to get them to this conclusion, and since this kind of mumblecore film doesn't have all the dialogue written down, I can see the actors thinking through what they need to say in order to drive the conversation to the place the story needs to end. I suspect the final scene is supposed to be so awkward it is funny, but I was never laughing. Humpday simply didn't work for me, and I almost felt that it was bordering on offensive. This simply isn't the kind of thing I find funny, and the characters made me cringe more than laugh.

how to be awkward and free and ready to do something stupid - all done brilliantly and with wit

[Quinoa1984 · 10/10 · 9 January 2010]

People have been throwing around the term 'Mumblecore' to describe a recent spat of movies by the likes of Lynn Shelton, Kelly Reichart, and the Duplass brothers (one of whom, Mark, acts in this movie) and some throw it around like it's a bad thing. While I've yet to see the bulk of the films as part of this quasi-movement of completely improvised-dialog films (one I have seen, Wendy and Lucy, is terrific), I should point out about a concurrent trend in television. Rest assured, some of the best comedy shows on TV right now- namely The Office and especially Curb Your Enthusiasm- go along on the beat of just having a rough outline, albeit a firm structure, to go with the story, and letting the actors take the scene where it needs to go. And as comedy, it's important that it's funny, and rest assured Humpday is funny as f*** (pun intended), but it also has to have a level of reality that you can just feel right away. Humpday has that, and it's refreshing.

It's a simple premise, though anything but in its execution of human interaction: two old friends, Ben and Andrew, meet again after Andrew's been away with his art-type friends for a while, and one night when Ben is over at Andrew's friends party a sort-of dare is made by Ben, that he and Andrew will do a gay porno together for an upcoming porno movie festival called Humpday. Aside from the fact that the two men are heterosexual, Ben is married to a nice but slightly rigid Anna, who wants to get knocked up sooner rather than later. From there the film is a series of awkward scenes- some more than others, some leading up to it in that cringe-worthy style that, if hooked into the film, will have you laughing and uncomfortable- that leads to that wonderful climax at the hotel room.

There are detractors for both the movement of mumblecore in general and for the film; some critics and audiences find the whole premise, as it plays out, unbelievable. Yet, perhaps that's part of Shelton's point: following these characters in their (ill)logical progression is part of what makes it satirical on the nature of men and relationships and friendship, but importantly as well it's natural-dialog style is perfect for how people would react to the situations.

And for those who really admire improvisational comedy, those awkward little moments and beats taken or things truly surprisingly said, Duplass and Joshua Leonard knock it out of the park. They're perceptive to how really close friends who do love each other- as 'friends' mind you- would react when putting themselves, in a kind of masculine sense of who they are, into this situation. On top of this there is also some really good work from Alycia Delmore as Ben's wife, who reveals in maybe the best scene of the film (when she gives her approval with a caveat) how she views Ben's free-will in their marriage.

In short, for me, Humpday is real and raw without losing for a second how to make a scene uproarious. It shares the cringe-comedy of the genius 'Curb' while also eschewing the more trying raunch of Apatow productions or, more recently, The Hangover. And as a bonus, its low-budget and small cast and chamber set-pieces don't give away really that it's all made up dialog and interactions. I'd be interested to see someone's reaction going in on the film cold, knowing only that it's a comedy about two guys planning on having sex together for an amateur porn. At the moment, it's the comedy sleeper of the year, one that will find (or maybe lose) its audience by word of mouth.

Bromance and saving face

[KineticSeoul · 6/10 · 15 February 2010]

It's been a decade since Ben(Duplass) and Andrew(Leonard) were college bad boys. Ben is living contently with a good job and a great wife, until his old buddy Andrew shows up on his doorstep late one night. Andrew, who lives as a vagabond artist, invites Ben out to a wild party. Excessive drinking combined with the irrational need to one up each other, leads to a mutual dare that locks them into entering an amateur porn contest together. prove how macho and free one another is. So the main part of this movie is about two guys not trying to lose face by backing down on a bet. And it basically tries to portray how straight males attitudes towards gay people. And it's understandable how some straight male viewers would give this film a higher rating compared to gay male viewers. Despite all that, this film was still intriguing and well executed, it just seemed real. I guess because they had minimal gear, location and budget to make this film and they needed to improvise some scenes, especially the last 20 min, it seemed like they didn't really have script of dialogue so they improvised. And they improvised actually quite well thus making the film seem real. It's a interesting film, but when it all ends there really doesn't seem to be any payoff and wasn't that satisfying, but it was a decent effort.

6/10

Such a copout

[boydwalters · 2/10 · 11 October 2009]

How old was this director ? ,,, The fact is these two guys would have done it ... Basically they just woosed out ... And I think the director did too ... The guys obviously should have just slept together and hugged years ago and seen if it had led anywhere ... It maybe would , it maybe wouldn't ... But if they had done it like that as an art project, they'd have gone with drugs and viagra and made it a laugh ... And they'd have shagged ... This was a total copout for financial reasons ... And the fact is that the film content probably put off all the homophobes anyway ... So everyone that saw it was rooting ( sorry Australia ) for the guys to shag anyway When are people going to have the guts to make films again without worrying about profit If this had been made by a better director than this, like John Cameron Mitchell, it would just have been a single thread in a more interesting film rather than stretching it out for 90 minutes and not having the guts to give it a proper payout in the end A real lost chance