Humpday

[Adam]

Did I miss it, or are people really not talking about it here?

[pixote]

There have been a few scattered reviews:

Humpday

Easily the funniest film I've seen this year.  Great movie watching experience as the entire audience was totally into it as well.  Shelton also surprised me with the often humorous My Effortless Brilliance, but Humpday is a huge step up into the comedy major leagues.  She manages to spin a blatantly silly premise into an insightful examination of male friendship, marriage and the attempt to maintain or reignite youthful ambitions, while maintaining an exceptionally consistent level of hilarity throughout. 

The three leads are spot on.  Duplass as the buttoned up newlywed, Ben, who's anxious to prove he's not a square; Leonard as his freewheeling buddy, Andrew, who secretly thinks he's a fraud; and Alycia Delmore as Ben's flabbergasted wife Anna, all give great performances that anchor the film in reality while still cranking up the funny.

It's only in a handful of theaters, but if Humpday happens to be playing near you, definitely check it out.

9/10

Truth - this is so far the best film i've seen this year.

Humpday (Lynn Shelton, 2009)
I honestly didn't expect this to be so funny, so well constructed, or so moving. It was, and for that it's great. It was loads of fun to see with a huge audience as well, because they all laughed and laughed, which was great. I liked the small moments, and the way these characters slowly reveal themselves, and we get closer and closer to their cores. I also have some specific thoughts on the ending, but I might seek a spoiler thread for those.

B+

Humpday  (Lynn Shelton, 2009)
Heh, what a fun title to search for screenshots for.  Take that, safe search!  This is a good movie, by the way.  Takes a pretty hard-to-sell premise and makes it very believable — and even meaningful and fun — thanks to good characterizations and direction, all anchored by a very nice performance by Mark Duplass.  The finale should have been scripted a little more closely, probably.  The heavy reliance of improv let that scene fall short of its potential, I think.  Would make a fascinating double bill with Old Joy.  But even without an awesome Yo La Tengo score, Humpday is the better film.
Grade: B+

Humpday (Lynn Shelton, 2009)
Needs more humping!
Grade: B-

Probably a couple more I can't remember.

pixote

[alexarch]

Disappointing, but J & I haven't been able to determine if that's due to our own prurient desires or if, in the final scene, the filmmakers truly fell short of their promise.

Even without that question, I'm not a fan of heavy improv like this. Wasn't a fan of it in Happy Go Lucky and wasn't a fan here. Characters seem to always sound like members of The Real World: Los Angeles cast. And their interests are about as important.

[pixote]

Characters seem to always sound like members of The Real World: Los Angeles cast.

Minus the accent?

pixote

[alexarch]

Minus the accent?

Heroin is fun!

[FifthCityMuse]

Disappointing, but J & I haven't been able to determine if that's due to our own prurient desires or if, in the final scene, the filmmakers truly fell short of their promise.

I know what you mean. Well... maybe. I had issues with the end as well. After, someone near me said, "Oh, I was a little sad that in the end they didn't", and I nearly screamed back, "A little sad? It's majorly depressing."

I felt like, because these two characters failed to do this, their whole lives from this point on where never really going to achieve anything. Ben was never really going to be happy in his marriage any more, and Andrew was never going to finish an art project. It felt like the remainder of their adult lives were going to be scarred by the failure to commit to this act.

That said, I do think Shelton, in taking it the direction she did, handled it well, and made everything believable. But yeah, I would've preferred humping.

[¡Keith!]

I completely do not get this complaint - look at everything you are given up to that point, there was never gonna be humping.  Also there was the question of achieving the erection which at least on one side of the equation seemed to be an impossibility.  For any of the pills to work there need to be some form of stimulation so if two approaching middle aged guys who don't really have the hots for each other took it it wasn;t gonna do much.

[alexarch]

Wow. I wouldn't have gone THAT far. I would have been okay if they didn't go all the way, but they didn't really even try. There were so many opportunities for them demonstrate a smidgen of physical intamacy, and they couldn't even do that. Even a genuine, heartfelt hand laid on a bare chest would have been enough.

One can legitimately argue that they were merely fulfilling their weak characters. Unfortunately, for me, that's not sufficient. I didn't like their characters, so to see them not deviate from their characters was a disappointment.

Edit: my response is to Muse's comment, not Keith's.

[Adam]

Even without that question, I'm not a fan of heavy improv like this. Wasn't a fan of it in Happy Go Lucky and wasn't a fan here. Characters seem to always sound like members of The Real World: Los Angeles cast. And their interests are about as important.

Wow, the daily double... wrong and for exactly the wrong reasons too!

[Adam]

I felt like, because these two characters failed to do this, their whole lives from this point on where never really going to achieve anything. Ben was never really going to be happy in his marriage any more, and Andrew was never going to finish an art project. It felt like the remainder of their adult lives were going to be scarred by the failure to commit to this act.

Except that Ben's marriage will actually be stronger for at least attempting to go through with it, and the realizations he comes to... and Andrew did complete his project... the last 5 minutes of the movie make this pretty clear I thought, on both counts. Maybe I'm more optimistic or something.