Humpday

San Francisco Chronicle Amy Biancolli

Humpday succeeds, often beautifully, by grounding its risque premise in the awkwardness and humor of real people trying their damnedest to communicate. A lot.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Anna's thoughts matter because, as played by the wonderfully nuanced newcomer Alycia Delmore, the no-bull responses of this perceptive woman are a key to Humpday's sly, wised-up feminist outlook.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Humpday carefully raises the stakes until it hits a finale loaded with humor, tenderness, and delicious ambiguity. It’s like "Old Joy" by way of Judd Apatow.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

The movie’s unblinking observation of a friendship put to the test is amused, queasy making, kindhearted and unfailingly truthful.

Slate Dana Stevens

May not be the single best movie I've seen so far this year--though it's certainly a contender for the title--but it's without doubt the most surprising.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Funny, yes, but also observant and thought-provoking.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Humpday mixes hilarity with upset as the irresistible force of male pride meets the immovable object of sexual identity.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

There's a wonderful chemistry between them -- though the film wisely allows Duplass and Delmore an equally intimate connection. Choices like that enable the modest Humpday to capture the lives of its protagonists more credibly than any Hollywood-manufactured comedy of recent vintage.

Los Angeles Times Robert Abele

Unlike a lot of institutional raunch in today's comedy, Humpday finds laughs out of what is rarely made explicit between buddies.

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

One of the best indie films of the year, Humpday is a lighter descendant of "sex lies and videotape," yet burrows just as deep into the male psyche and the human capacity for self-deceit.

NPR Bob Mondello

I'm guessing Humpday will make its natural, easygoing leading men -- Mark Duplass and Joshua Leonard -- much sought after.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

Lynn Shelton's marvelous chamber comedy Humpday butts up against the same sort of taboos as "Brüno," and in its fumbling, semi-improvised way, it’s equally hilarious and even more subversive.

Film Threat Don R. Lewis

Funny, uncomfortable and cleverly insightful.

TV Guide Cammila Albertson

The movie does open up a lot of heretofore vacuum-sealed cans of worms. Does sex represent a sort of grand completeness that men secretly yearn for in their friendships?

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Humpday sells its admittedly far-fetched premise by illustrating how men often can't help but behave like stubborn children in the company of their friends -- even when the stakes are raised to ridiculous levels.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jennie Punter

Humpday is mostly foreplay. But isn't that usually the most fun anyway? It certainly is in this film.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

While at times the improvisational dialogue sounds like audio filler, the three leads are poignant and perceptive.

Washington Post Jan Stuart

Delmore, Duplass and Leonard work up a loose-limbed, improvisatory energy, but Humpday radiates with the sheen of a film that has been thought out within an inch of its witty and insightful life.

Variety Todd McCarthy

A visually mangy but frequently hilarious low-budgeter.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Reuniting an uptight married man with a footloose old pal, Lynn Shelton's third feature offers a (much) more extreme version of Kelly Reichardt's "Old Joy," also a sort of buddy movie, also shot in Seattle.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

As for that central question: Yep, it’s art, all right. One only wishes they’d gotten down to the business of it sooner.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Serves up some caustic laughs before fizzling out.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Maybe Humpday needed more characters and a less claustrophobic atmosphere. Maybe the film needed to be bolder and break a few boundaries itself. Maybe it could have better explained why these two men still need to be friends. Whatever the case, it certainly needed a better payoff.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The scenes between husband and wife are spectacularly awkward and arresting, though the movie grows more dubious the nearer the guys get to their shooting session in a local hotel room.

New York Post Kyle Smith

Few kinds of art are more boring than the insistently transgressive, and few movies are more boring than Humpday.