In this era of guy-centric bromantic dude-fests, who would have thought the future of Hollywood comedy just might be a married, fortysomething mother from Seattle? With her film "Humpday," which has been turning the festival circuit on its ear since its premiere at Sundance on its way toward hitting theaters in July, Lynn Shelton has managed to both outdo the dudes and create a style all her own.
Built from a series of sharply edited, structured improvisations, with her actors using their own words to get the story where it needs to go, Shelton's film follows two old college friends who are reunited for a few days. One (Mark Duplass) has a wife and an increasingly settled-down life while the other (Joshua Leonard) is still a free-ranging party guy. In a pique of off-handed competitiveness, the guys decide to make a gay porno film. Together. "Humpday" takes a somewhat lowbrow, high-concept premise and turns it into a startling honest exploration of male friendship and personal identity.
