Humpday

"Mumblecore bromance" would have to be the shorthand designation for this film, but I found the result much more engaging than I expected. The premise – two straight friends decide to make a gay porn film – seems both familiar and ridiculous, but Lynn Shelton’s film is neither, instead very canny about male bravado and self-deception. Whether scripted or improvised, or some combination of both, the dialogue between Mark Duplass and Joshua Leonard rings true, sometimes painfully so, sometimes hilariously so. They are college friends ten years out. The former has settled in Seattle, married and working as a transportation planner; the latter remains a would-be artist and world traveler, who blows into town on a whim and shows up in the middle of the night at his old friend’s house. Let the joshing and rassling begin, and the meandering conversations. The bemused observer is Alycia Delmore, the hopefully ovulating wife, and she gives the guys – and the film – ballast and a tether to reality. As a low-budget, three-person chamber piece, this film is as surprising and satisfying as Richard Linklater’s Tape, though much funnier. Another obvious comparison would be Kelly Reichardt’s well-received Old Joy, but I liked this much better. My unexpected enthusiasm for this film urges me toward a plus, but an acknowledgement of the limited appeal of Cassavetes-inflected indie fare suggests a minus, so they balance out to a simple, solid recommendation. 2009, dvd.) *7* (MC-74.)