Quick Review: Humpday

I don't know if this qualifies as ironic, but I saw "Humpday" on Wednesday. The movie got some attention at Sundance because of its plot: two straight men decide to make a gay porno and enter it in Humpfest, the annual festival of amateur erotica in Seattle. That brief summary doesn't do it justice. Andrew and Ben are old friends from college who haven't seen each other in 10 years. Andrew, an artist, roams all over the place, while Ben has married and settled into a conventional life. After Andrew unexpectedly shows up at Ben's door, the two reconnect.

At a party given by some of Andrew's bohemian friends, the discussion -- aided by booze and pot -- turns to what type of film would be unique and worthy of Humpfest. Ben (Mark Duplass) and Andrew (Joshua Leonard) decide that if the two of them -- both straight, one married -- had sex on camera, it would not only be unique but a work of art. (Clearly they've never been exposed to the whole "gay-for-pay" porn genre.) The next morning, sobered up, it turns out that neither one really wants to do it but neither one wants to be the one to back out. Then there's the issue of what to tell Ben's wife Anna (Alycia Delmore).

I shudder to think what a big studio would do with this premise, if they dared to make the film at all. But "Humpday" plays quite nicely with the idea. The interplay between Duplass, Leonard and Delmore is enjoyable, and whether or not the two friends actually do the deed becomes secondary to the dance that leads up to it. My grade: A-minus.