Review of The Do-Deca-Pentathlon (2012) by Rainer K — 17 Sep 2012

Steve Zissis is the biggest discovery of the film for me. He plays Mark Benton, one of two brothers who once competed in a 25 event fight against each other determine who's the better brother. Back then, it ended somehow in a tie and years later, on the birthday weekend of Mark, the two once again fall back into uber-competitiveness and try to work it out - fully out of shape and behind the back of Mark's family.

Zissis is great as Mark, as he combines the physical appearance of the great fatties in comedy history (Belushi, Candy, Farley) with the attitude and likability of Jason Segel.

The one and only Segel who participated in the Duplass brothers' last film, Jeff Who Lives at Home that also concerns two brothers in a struggling relationship.

These two movies might be partly autobiographical and the more I think about it, the more resemblance appears.

Only that Pentathlon is the better movie. Sure, I liked Segel more than Kelly or Zissis but Do-Deca has a far better plot (Jeff is mostly a character study without much going on, up to the point that I merely remember how it ended) and the sporting events give it a certain energy and suspense which Jeff mostly lacked.

All in all though, Do-Deca is the kind of Indie I can't fully appreciate. Beside a stellar performance by Zissis I found the acting only decent and the use of handheld cameras, ongoing zooms and amateurish cuts gave it its distinct low budget Indie look but also left it seemingly unpolished. The whole cinematography annoyed me a bit, especially in the dialogue-heavier scenes although it was intentional. Doing this just to achieve non-mainstream look doesn't make much sense to me either.