Humpday

This film is about two guy friends who have to deal with their drunken pledge to make a porn 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.