Jenn and Jette Hook up on 'Humpday'

The independent film Humpday, which played at SXSW this year, is (finally) getting a theatrical release in Austin this week. The comedy is screening at Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar. Jenn Brown and Jette Kernion both caught this film in March and have some thoughts to share.

Let's start with Jenn:

This cautionary tale of a bromance taken to its competitive limits is one of the smarter comedies this year. 

Former Austinite Mark Duplass (The Puffy Chair) and Houstonite Joshua Leonard (The Blair Witch Project) star as two friends who take their competitive tendencies to the limit when they decide to enter an erotic film competition. You know these guys: apart, the adorable, doting husband, Ben (Duplass), the vagabond Andrew, with his exotic stories and need for a couch to surf (Leonard). Together, these old college buddies can't help but slide back into their old pattern of trying to outdo each other. As their lifestyles collide, and they egg each other on to meet the film competition deadline, their bromance is taken to the limit. 

Leonard's Andrew is simultaneously annoying and endearing, and Duplass is as charming as ever as Ben.  Alycia Delmore had some particularly strong moments as Ben's wife, Anna. Writer-director Lynn Shelton plays Andrew's bohemian love interest.

Shelton, who was awarded the 2009 Someone to Watch Spirit Award, manages to explore sexuality and the boundaries of relationships without getting tawdry, exploitive or trite. Some of the intentional humor falls flat, but the cast really shines when they start exploring why they've challenged each other far outside their respective comfort zones. Watching Leonard and Duplass explore the possibilities of sexual intimacy and it's consequences is both funny and provocative.

Now for Jette's take:

Humpday is a fairly simple story with a small cast. It would be a one-joke movie, if it weren't that the characters and their relationships were so well drawn. Ben (Mark Duplass) and Anna (Alycia Delmore) are living a content life in Seattle, married, homeowners, stable jobs, ready to have a baby, all very conventional and straightforward. One night, Ben's best friend Andrew (Joshua Leonard) shows up at the door, and is startled by the dullness of Ben's life.

Andrew wants to shake up his friend a bit, and introduces him to some new friends who are interested in art and filmmaking -- specifically, Humpday, a Seattle film festival that focuses on movies about sex. Suddenly, Ben and Joshua concoct a fabulous idea for a sex film they want to make. Together. How this will affect their lives, and Anna's, is the fascinating heart of Humpday. You can see the comedy potential ... but this is a quiet, thoughtful comedy, not a sitcom.

Humpday doesn't rely on lazy stereotypes, either, and it would be so easy to do so with the character of Anna. Perhaps it's because the movie is directed by a woman -- Lynn Shelton -- but I was impressed that Anna wasn't a variation on the usual nagging wife. The relationship between Anna and Ben is more realistic than that; Ben sometimes assumes Anna will think in act in such a stereotypical way, but the film reveals she is far more interesting. This type of revelation happens with all three characters in different ways throughout the film.

Despite an almost high-concept premise, Humpday is a low-key movie, with subtle humor. I'm realizing that this is the third review I've written in a week citing movies with plots about out-of-the-ordinary sexual dynamics that mask an insightful and occasionally sentimental relationship films. The other two, if you're keeping track, are World's Greatest Dad and Extract -- and of course other directors like Kevin Smith are also doing the same thing. It's a fascinating trend, as though we are all embarrassed to be sentimental or corny by watching movies that explore and celebrate close friendships, marriages, and other relationships unless they're wrapped in something sensational or even shocking.

It seems almost unfair to class Humpday with these movies because it's only the catalyzing plot event that sounds outrageous; overall, it's fairly realistic and its humor is not offensive or raunchy. It's inevitably being classed with as a "mumblecore" film because it's a small independent film with some of the same cast and crew as others in that genre, but get past it's "gimmick" plot hook, and Humpday is simply a quiet, smart, honest film that's worth a look.