Unlike a lot of institutional raunch in today's comedy, Humpday finds laughs out of what is rarely made explicit between buddies.
Humpday (2009)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:96
Fresh:72
Rotten:24
Average Rating:6.6/10
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
Mumblecore comes of age with this smartly written and well-acted, grown-up version of a "bromantic" comedy.
Shelton's low-fi treatment helps soften it, but too many overcooked moments still seep through.
The addlepated 'Humpday," wherein charcters laugh and laugh and laugh. So what's the joke?
Is there anything more stereo-typical than straight guys locked in a mutual dare? Well, here the stakes couldn't be higher, or funnier.
Mumblecore meets screwball in 'Humpday,' an audacious character comedy that squeezes so much humor and pertinence out of its low budget and high concept that even the audience feels the pinch.
It's funny and sweet and curious about the nature of dude friendship, although Shelton, like her characters, equivocates a little too much about the eventual outcome.
Humpday succeeds by grounding its risqué premise in the awkwardness and humor of real people trying their damnedest to communicate. A lot.
One of the big problems in Humpday for this viewer is the characters, none of whom really engages a viewer's imagination or emotion.
Explores the dynamics of male camaraderie, sexual politics, and competitiveness.
I find it interesting that that the two best films about men that I’ve seen this summer (The Hurt Locker being the other) have been directed by women.
Humpday is the reductio ad absurdum of the recent spate of bromance movies. ... It dares to ask what happens when a bromance evolves into a straight-up romance.
Humpday just wrings every uncomfortable laugh from its premise then shudders to a halt: cut, end credits.
ultimately plays as behavioral experiment and, slapping their stomachs and chests in nervous rhythm, its leads are prime specimens
More sophisticated than a brief plot synopsis indicates, and it is one of the most observant and intelligent movies ever about male relationships.
Humpday uses it absurd premise for maximum comic discomfort and its this approach that should have audiences unable to look away unless they are doubled over in laughter.
...plays as if director Lynn Shelton watched Kelly Reichardt's "Old Joy" and decided to turn it into a comedy. It's abrupt ending plays like a filmmaker who has run out of idea.
Writer/director Lynn Shelton's sexual sitcom is a lighthearted satire of machismo and insecurity where the laughs emerge from restless, uncomfortable silences.
Shelton often seems hemmed in by the high concept, but she manages to worm her way out so expertly that when it's over, the whole thing feels like it was built backwards, starting not with the premise but with the final, observant conversation.
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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