Review of Humpday (2009) by Eric A — 19 Jul 2009

It's a man's, man's, man's world--seen through the lens of a female filmmaker--in "Humpday," an intimate, lo-fi riff on the awkward aggression and latent eroticism of male bonding.

Though its themes have been explored and exploited in films from "Superbad" to the Hope-Crosby "Road" series, Lynn Shelton meticulously unravels the relationship between two reunited college buddies with a keen eye for the absurd lengths men will go to prove their masculinity.

And while the conceit of two straight men making a gay porn movie together drives the film's humor, Shelton shows us that, ultimately, this power struggle isn't about sex--it's about status, with one square looking for currency in the hip world and one hipster craving some of that self-assurance so common in squares.

This is achieved through a novella's worth of dialogue that approaches tedium but never fails to feel natural, thanks to well-timed and delivered pauses, silences, and stammerings. No need to mention "b**mance"--Shelton and her cast deliver a fad-proof movie grounded in the genetic foibles of the male temperament.