Well-acted 'Humpday' delivers fresh take on friendship

A man in his early-30s stares into a bathroom mirror, not entirely satisfied with what he sees. He makes minute changes — to his hair, his shirt, his expression — in an attempt to find the look he wants, making a valiant effort to seem effortlessly cool. It's a revealing moment, one of many in a film that on its surface appears to be about sex but ultimately is about something else entirely: growing up, settling down, wondering what happened to that younger, less self-conscious self.

And the beautifully acted "Humpday" is, at its heart, also about friendship. The made-in-Seattle film, a third feature for local writer/director Lynn Shelton, has two men at its center. Ben (Mark Duplass) is that guy in the mirror, married to Anna (Alycia Delmore) and living a responsible if somewhat uneventful life. Andrew (Joshua Leonard) is his buddy from wilder college days, an artsy drifter who turns up unexpectedly on Ben and Anna's doorstep one night.

Their friendship is rekindled, and a night of partying leads to a dare: What if Ben and Andrew entered an amateur porn contest together, making a statement about breaking boundaries and porn-as-art? As the partying fog lifts, questions arise: How, exactly, will two straight guys do this? What if Anna doesn't like the idea? And, if they don't go through with it, which of them will be the one to back down?

It's an original premise, and one that turns out to be a surprising portal into the psyche of the two characters. Ben wants to do the film — or, rather, he wants the film to be done, which is not exactly the same thing — so he can push aside that uncomfortable feeling of middle-age stodginess. Andrew wants to do it as a reaffirmation of his own free-spiritedness.

Each hopes the other will back out of the idea, and they warily circle each other in the days and hours before the planned shoot. Ben, in particular, smarts against Andrew's condescension toward "the weird paradigm" in which he and Anna live. "You are not as Kerouac as you think you are," he tells Andrew in a moment of clarity, "and I'm not as white-picket-fence as you think I am."

How do things work out? Well, I'm not going to tell you. Suffice to say that the talented Shelton gets honest, nuanced performances from her trio of actors; really, the most naked thing about the film is the way the cast bares the characters' souls. Their late-night conversations feel as natural as our own, with each pair within the trio (including a powerful scene between Anna and Andrew) creating their own intricate relationship. Though the film at times gets a little too talky, and the camerawork sometimes feels unnecessarily claustrophobic, "Humpday" surprises us from beginning to end. It's a fresh take on the familiar topic of friendship — and a wise one.

Moira Macdonald:

206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com