"Worse than Transformers 2." This was a colleague's reaction to director Lynn Shelton's foray into the mumblecore genre. Well, sure — if you're expecting giant robots, ear-deafening explosions, and leggy skanks.
What you do get here is a pair of beer-bellied former college friends: married transportation engineer Ben (mumblecore pioneer Mark Duplass) and wandering "artist" Andrew (The Blair Witch Project's Joshua Leonard). And there are explosive results once the duo decide — in a fit of drug-and-alcohol-fueled machismo — to shoot an amateur porno for Seattle's annual Humpfest in which they themselves will star as two hetero guys . . . fucking each other.
It ain't gay if it's art! Ben's ovulating wife, Anna (terrific newcomer Alycia Delmore), does understand that this is something he needs to do, even if she can't quite understand why. I'm with her there. Still, there's more believable, raw humanity here than in Michael Bay's entire œuvre.
