How could a movie about two male straight best friends deciding to star in a porno together (yes, meaning they will have to do the deed “¦ naked “¦ in a hotel room) be beautiful?
Director Lynn Shelton knows exactly how. In her film, crudely but fittingly titled “Humpday,” Shelton manages to take a taboo subject matter and produce a film that is both funny and touching and guaranteed to keep you thinking long after the credits have finished rolling.
As the title so bluntly suggests, the subject matter is indeed eyebrow-raising. While happily married couple Ben (Mark Duplass) and Anna (Alycia Delmore) are enjoying a comfortable life and looking toward having a baby, the unexpected arrival of Ben’s wild-child college friend, Andrew (Joshua Leonard), throws their world for a bit of a loop.
One night when Ben is exposed to Andrew’s artsy, substance-using friends, he drunkenly proposes a brilliant idea to make a porno film of “two straight dudes bonin'” for the upcoming Humpday pornography film festival. The two straight dudes? You guessed it.
Convinced that something so radical would take first prize, the two egg each other on to go through with the plan in the name of art. It soon becomes clear, however, that it’s a lot less about making art than it is about confronting the reasons for making it.
Although the subject matter may be vulgar, the film is definitely not, due in part to the solid cast of actors who give the film a rare charm through their raw and improvisation-based acting. Their emotions and interactions are so authentic it’s hard to believe you’re watching a movie and not someone’s life.
To say Duplass and Leonard have chemistry would be an understatement. Their skill creates intense, uproarious and downright beautiful moments of connection. Whether they’re sitting side by side in a closet talking about life or enthusiastically wrestling each other to the ground while shooting some hoops, the unkempt pair shares the ultimate bromance (though they may take that brotherly love a bit too far).
The scenes between Duplass and Delmore are just as rich. From their fits of laughter to the more serious moments, it’s a pleasure to witness the couple’s obvious love for each other, and their heated discussions of Ben’s artistic venture are some of the most emotional of the film.
And while the characters have totally separate outlooks, the realistic nature of their acting somehow makes every outlook relatable. When Anna realizes exactly what Ben plans to do, she’s flabbergasted, and you’re right there with her. On the other hand, when Ben and Andrew commit to the project as a sort of dare, you can almost understand why they would ever do something so wacky.
When they laugh, you laugh, when they struggle to confront exactly what they plan to do in that hotel room, man, do you struggle. Just the subtly tortured look on Andrew’s face as they look around the room is enough to make you laugh and cry simultaneously.
With these three vulnerable characters working their way through a partly hilarious and partly devastating struggle, Shelton manages to artfully touch upon universal themes like growing up and confronting fear. And she does it with the utmost respect, everything coated with an air of lighthearted comedy.
The film’s artistry is most apparent in its ability to delicately treat a topic that could be so vulgar and create a story that is anything but. True, it is a story about two adults deciding to make a porno, but “Humpday” impressively squeezes every ounce of humanity out of the topic, and that deserves props.
E-mail Parker at pparker@media.ucla.edu.