The problem is not the farfetched contrivance of Humpday, but how unmoored it seems from anything but self-satisfied cuteness.
Humpday (2009)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:115
Fresh:91
Rotten:24
Average Rating:6.7/10
Consensus: Observant and insightful, this indie comedy takes a different tack on the "bromance" but still makes a point without sermonizing.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for some strong sexual content, pervasive language and a scene of drug use.
Runtime: 1 hr 34 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:Jul 10, 2009 Limited
Box Office: $254,272
Synopsis:
It's been a decade since Ben (Duplass) and Andrew (Leonard) were the bad boys of their college campus. Ben has settled down and found a job, wife, and home. Andrew took the alternate route as a...
It's been a decade since Ben (Duplass) and Andrew (Leonard) were the bad boys of their college campus. Ben has settled down and found a job, wife, and home. Andrew took the alternate route as a vagabond artist, skipping the globe from Chiapas to Cambodia. When Andrew shows up unannounced on Ben's doorstep, they easily fall back into their old dynamic of macho one-upmanship. Late into the night at a wild party, the two find themselves locked in a mutual dare: to enter an amateur porn contest together. But what kind of boundary-breaking, envelope pushing porn can two straight dudes make? After the booze and "big talk" run out, only one idea remains -- they will have sex together on camera. It's not gay; it's beyond gay. It's not porn; it's art. But how exactly will it work? And more importantly, who will tell Anna (Delmore), Ben's wife?
Writer/director Lynn Shelton, director of My Effortless Brilliance and recipient of the "Someone to Watch Award" at the 2009 Independent Spirit Awards, expertly mines the biggest ironies of the male ego to hilarious effect. Humpday is a buddy movie gone wild. --© Magnolia
Starring: Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard, Alycia Delmore, Lynn Shelton
Starring: Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard, Alycia Delmore, Lynn Shelton, Trina Willard
Director: Lynn Shelton
Director: Lynn Shelton
Screenwriter: Lynn Shelton
Producer: Lynn Shelton
Studio: Magnolia Pictures
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Reviews for Humpday
Humpday typifies the low-level indie film where characters talk out silly ideas they don’t believe in anyway, just the pop confusion in their heads.
Few kinds of art are more boring than the insistently transgressive, and few movies are more boring than Humpday.
One of the big problems in Humpday for this viewer is the characters, none of whom really engages a viewer's imagination or emotion.
Shelton's wry script, together with a troika of perfectly judged performances, transforms a set-up that has the potential to be endlessly distasteful into a wry, engaging version of the “will-they-won't-they?” movie.
Though often very funny, writer/director Lynn Shelton's film lacks some of the insight into the awkwardness of male friendship found in recent mainstream comedy hits.
Humpday succeeds by grounding its risqué premise in the awkwardness and humor of real people trying their damnedest to communicate. A lot.
This is an excruciating dramedy of schadenfruede for the anything-goes hipness of the last decade and a half which has devalued contentment as a cop out
Lynn Shelton's breakthrough bromance comedy is funny, sharp and true -- with no preachy sexual politics.
What could have ended up as crass, cringy and possibly offensive actually results in a very funny and realistic treatment of the premise.
Forget the buddy movie and the "bromance", this wryly provocative comedy takes man-love to a place of palm-sweating uncertainty.
One thing usually that stands out in independent films is the amateurish acting, but that's not the case here. Every performance is right on the money and feels 100% natural.
Initially refreshing, witty and awkwardly funny, but it morphs into a shallow, tedious, lazy and ultimately forgettable comedy.
The film ends up being about not just a really idiotic dare, but about the bounds of friendship and the bonds of marriage — and about much more besides.
There's more believable, raw humanity here than in Michael Bay's entire oeuvre.
Latest News for Humpday
July 09, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Bruno is Certified Fresh
This week at the movies, we've got Austrian audacity (Bruno, starring Sacha Baron Cohen) and graduation gratification (I Love You, Beth Cooper, starring Hayden Panettiere and... More...
June 28, 2009:
Edinburgh 2009: RT's 10 Must-See Movies
The Edinburgh Film Festival has come to a close and Rotten Tomatoes thought we'd make a traditional look back over all of the films playing at this year's fest and present to... More...
June 28, 2009:
Edinburgh 2009: Humpday wins RT Award
Humpday, directed by Lynn Shelton, has become the second ever winner of the Rotten Tomatoes Critical Consensus Award, it was announced today at an awards ceremony in Edinburgh.... More...
May 10, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review ![]()
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| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 83% 83% | Harry Potter and the H… |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 75% 75% | Julie & Julia |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 49% 49% | Taking Woodstock |
| 26% 26% | The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard |
| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
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