When Andrew (Joshua Leonard) shows up in the dead of night at Ben's (Mark Duplass) door after not seeing his old college buddy for nearly a decade, Ben lets him crash for the night and then the weekend. They catch up a bit and realize each other's lives have gone two very diverse paths. Ben's been domesticated, married to Anna (Alycia Delmore), with a nice house in the Seattle suburbs and a white-collar job. Andrew, on the other hand, is living the nomadic lifestyle of a world-traveling artist.
The next day, Andrew calls Ben at work inviting him to a get-together at Monica's (Lynn Shelton) little artist commune aptly called " Dionysus." Trina Willard plays Lily, Monica's girlfriend but such a designation really loses its accuracy in Dionysus. As the party progresses, Ben and Andrew realize how different their lives have truly become. Being the fish out of water that he is at Dionysus, an environment he sees Andrew perfectly fit in to, Ben tries to prove to Andrew and his fellow hedonists that he is not as "white picket fence" as he seems. The subject of Humpfest comes up, an amateur porn film festival put on by the Seattle paper The Stranger. They discuss it in terms of an art project and Ben suggests entering it but with an original take as opposed to being just regular amateur porn, it needs something that hasn't been done before...at least in amateur porn: Two straight guys...two straight friends.
At the height of intoxication, Ben and Andrew agree to this, both unwilling to back down. They will do this, film a sex tape Sunday night. The hotel's been booked. As they sober up the next morning, where most friends would acknowledge the elephant in the room by feigning homophobia and backing out of their silly little scheme, these two guys don't, playing sexual chicken that can only end with these two straight guys having sex with each other.
The tension is there, as is the hilarity. The scenes are genuine, especially the dialogue which doesn't feel improvised but must've been considering how real it is. The film feels very realistic, not so much like a documentary but more like a story between two friends as witnessed from the perspective of a fly on the wall. An intimate film shot with two cameras for true coverage, Lynn Shelton brought her actors in at the script development stage and it shows, where everyone of the actors is co-writer, even credited as script consultant. It is this collaboration that gives the film its mood of intense realism. It is this intense realism that brings out the comedy, not so much gag comedy but comic relief brought on by incredibly awkward scenes, not just the ones flirting with the odd situation the two leads find themselves in, but the awkwardness of having to explain this type of art project to your wife or introducing an intimidating sex toy in a threesome.
Also impressive is the character depth given to Ben's wife, Anna. Not only does she provide perceived opposition, true opposition and insight into Ben's character in the film, she nails the theme.
While a true independent film, watching it like a popcorn movie enhances its enjoyment, with friends, on the weekend, in as crowded a theater as possible. Having seen it twice, the first time in a packed theater at a film festival and just recently at a press screening with a barely filled screening room of critics, the film plays much better with the larger audience. Instead of catching it at an art house on a Tuesday afternoon alone, seeing it on a Friday night with a bunch of friends should most likely constitute a better time.
Shot on tape and blown up to 35mm with a 1:85:1 aspect ratio, the film runs for 95 minutes. From Magnolia Pictures. Written & directed by Lynn Shelton. Photographed by Benjamin Kasulke. Edited by Nat Sanders.
CraveOnline Rating: 8/10
