Review of The Do-Deca-Pentathlon (2012) by Thomas W — 16 Sep 2012

It is the mundane, every day, ordinariness of the Duplass Brothers's (Jay and Mark) films that make them the respected indie-film directors that they are today. Their films -- Cyrus, The Puffy Chair, Baghead and Jeff, Who Lives at Home -- are all solidly grounded pieces of work in a slightly warped reality.

This is the Duplass selling point ... one I have allowed myself to enjoy with each of their films (to varying degrees). It is only "slightly-warped" because 85% of their film is realistic and the film-making duo takes one element of normalcy and amplifies beyond belief .

.. here they do so with two ultra-competitive brothers. While many siblings compete with one another -- the mere title of this film -- implies that that these two take it over the top with a competition of 25 events to one-up the other.

We don't get to see all of there here; but the brothers compete ... much to the chagrin of the wife of one of them (the other is un-married -- SUPRISE!) who has set up a weekend birthday party for her husband whom her brother-in-law infiltrates and causes the steady-hubby to go rogue.

There are laughs and smiles to be had here -- like all of the Duplass films -- but there are also uncomfortable moments of real-ness which make the films work on a base-line of reality. I appreciate what these guys do.

They celebrate the mundane of our everyday lives but also give it a slight twist to make something a bit more interesting. The filmm is quite short (under an hour and a half) and I wish it had carried out a bit further .

.. I won't get into the why here. This isn't a movie that will win numerous awards; but it is a pleasant way to pass some time.