Humpday, 2009
Dir. Lynn Shelton
"You're not as Kerouac as you think you are, and I'm not as plain-picket white fence as you think I am."
Humpday asks a simple question, what if two straight men have sex on film for art? What would be the repercussions? What would be the emotional issues brought up? Humpday actually ends up asking a few questions, but never really answers a lot of them. It could be viewed wholly as philosophical movie, asking rhetorical questions to get you to think, and I guess, in that sense it succeeds. But part of me can't help but feel that it's a little lazy on the film's part to get into these issues and then cop out by not fully exploring them. They start to scratch the surface more towards the end, but there's nothing really here interesting on the characters part.
"You're not as Kerouac as you think you are, and I'm not as plain-picket white fence as you think I am."
Humpday asks a simple question, what if two straight men have sex on film for art? What would be the repercussions? What would be the emotional issues brought up? Humpday actually ends up asking a few questions, but never really answers a lot of them. It could be viewed wholly as philosophical movie, asking rhetorical questions to get you to think, and I guess, in that sense it succeeds. But part of me can't help but feel that it's a little lazy on the film's part to get into these issues and then cop out by not fully exploring them. They start to scratch the surface more towards the end, but there's nothing really here interesting on the characters part.
That could very well be because it doesn't feel like these characters are really well written or fleshed out, due to the constantly improved feeling of the film. The non-stop shaky, documentary camera style doesn't help in the least bit. The effect is that the viewer gets the feeling that this is in fact an art-house, college film project or something. A film with a clever idea, but has nothing else going for it to have it resonate or elevate itself above a some funny moments and a great on-screen chemistry between Mark Duplass and Joshua Leonard.
So far this review is probably coming off very negative, but for all the issues I've taken with the film, and I enjoyed watching it, and not once was I bored by the film. It just seems like a good starting step, something like an animatic or rough shot you would show to the studio before someone with a bigger vision and better editing/cinematography/soundtrack/script comes in and takes over.
Humpday is a great idea, and has so much promise for poignant characters, relationships but it never really goes anywhere and just flops around in mediocrity. It's disappointing, because unlike The Adventures of Sebastian Cole (recently reviewed) I can actually see the brilliant sparkle in this film, I can see what they were trying to achieve. And where as that film was a complete mess, Humpday sadly is just poorly executed. Given good talent in a few crucial areas Humpday could've been great. As it stands, I could only give a hesitant recommendation for the film.
2 out of 5
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