“Humpday”

Reviewed 8 July 2009 by Ted Faraone

One star out of five; $2 ticket on a scale of $0 to $12.

CHUBBY EX FRAT BOYS ON A GENDER BENDER

“Humpday,” the third feature from director Lynn Shelton, who also gets producer and screenwriter credit, would be a total waste of celluloid were it not for one thing: inspired acting from the principals and key supporting players.

Consider the premise:  Two pranksters, Ben (Mark Duplass) and Andrew (Joshua Leonard) get together ten years after college and in a drunken, drug laced revel, decide to make a video for the local amateur “Hump Fest” porno film festival.  What could be hotter than two straight guys boning each other on video, they think.  Well… two gay guys because they’d know far better how to bone each other.  You get the idea….

Ben lives in Seattle with wife Anna (Alycia Delmore), has house, steady job, and plans for parenthood.  Andrew is a vagabond artist who never finished a project.  Both are straight despite pic’s feeble attempt to introduce orientation questions.  The rest of this tediously talky flick covers Ben’s clumsy attempt to tell Anna what is about to happen, her reaction, the two boys screwing up their courage to do it, and the denouement, which unfortunately, comes long before pic finally ends.  Along the way the three principals deliver some poignant self-insight with humor and a little class.  Insights come mostly as confessions…Anna making out with a stranger in a bathroom, Ben’s secret teenage crush on another guy, and Andrew’s sense of failure as an artist.

Unfortunately, all the above is delivered via hand-held camera, and we do not mean Steadycam.  Frames are jumpy enough to induce nausea.  Lighting, except for outdoor daylight shots, is poor and tight shots—tight enough to see the pores in actors’ faces—rule.  The only excuse for the tight shots is insufficient budget for acceptable sets.  The only excuse for all the hand-held camera work is no money for tripods or tracking shots.  There is even an out of focus shot in the final reel which ought to have been in focus.  It’s slipshod and unacceptable.  Director of Photography Benjamin Kasulke deserves much blame. 

Nat Sanders’ editing leaves much to be desired.  “Humpday” is much ado about almost nothing.  At 95 minutes, the screenplay feels like two and a half hours.  Some jump cuts are jarring.  Most of the pivotal scenes, especially in the final reel, need cutting.  Plot points aren’t just made, they’re delivered by sledgehammer.  Fortunately for a pic that depends so much on dialogue, sound recording is more than up to the task.  Helmer Shelton ought to be sending huge bouquets to her cast for bringing what life there is to her dreary screenplay.  While she is at it, she can send one to herself for playing a supporting role as bi-sexual free-spirited Monica with panache.  She looks good -- like a cross between a young Carly Simon and Rosanna Arquette.  Trina Willard (Monica’s gay girlfriend, Lily) also adds zest to the production.  It is a pity that she did not get more screen time.  She and the three principals share script consultant credit.

The “reunion” picture has been done before to better effect, most notably in “The Big Chill.” 

“Humpday” is slang for Wednesday, the middle day (hump) of the workweek.  No such reference is made in this skein.  Pic is not rated, although sexual content, language, and Delmore’s naked tush make it inappropriate for pre-teens, who will, in any event not comprehend what all the fuss is about.  Adults will just be bored by it.

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