Humpday ***

"Humpday" explores male bonding, competition, the subject of art, and the limits of friendship and marriage in an intimate, hilariously funny story of what happens when two former college roommates decide to make a porn movie for a contest - starring themselves. What starts out as a joke morphs into a macho contest of wills and then into something deeper and more personal.

Ben (Mark Duplass) has settled into a marriage, a house, a job, with plans for a family, when Andrew (Joshua Leonard) the free-spirited and world-travelling artist he hasn't seen in years comes banging on his door at two in the morning. Andrew quickly draws Ben into a world of freedom and experimentation that makes Ben question the path he's taken, and makes Andrew re-examine his own accomplishments.

Written and directed by Lynn Shelton, who also has a role in the movie, "Humpday" comes out of the mumblecore movement, independent films characterized by nonprofessionals examining mundane postcollege and young adult life with an emphasis on character and dialog (often improvised), and who frequently appear in each other's works. The raw, cinema verite style of mumblecore movies, commonly shot with available light on location in real houses and apartments, is the antithesis of Hollywood slickness. Yet these micro budget films often have more truth, insight, humor and verisimilitude than twenty Tinseltown romcoms.

Shelton's style favors close shots and the unpolished dialog of real life. This effort has a very nice flow, crisply provided by editor Nat Sanders. The principal actors, including Alycia Delmore as Ben's wife Anna, also get writing credits for developing the dialog, and all give solid, totally believable performances. "Humpday" is a fine effort that won't disappoint.

Rated R. 94 minutes. Lynn Shelton - Director / Writer (writer) / Producer, Benjamin Kasulke - Cinematographer, Vince Smith - Composer, Jasminka Vukcevic - Production Designer, Nat Sanders - Editor. Distributed by Magnolia Pictures.

Principal actors: Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard, Alycia Delmore, Lynn Shelton, and Trina Willard.