Humpday
Directed by Lynn Shelton
Runtime: 94 min.

I Hate Valentine’s Day
Directed by Nia Vardalos
Runtime: 98 min.

Only amateurism separates the indie sex comedy Humpday from Hollywood product. Its story of two male BFFs who reunite, still bluffing and challenging each other like schoolboys, turns into a gimmick where they agree to do a porn film in which they have sex with each other. Hollywood’s version of this would at least be slick with some formulaic humor. But Humpday’s writer-director Lynn Shelton takes this absurd sitcom seriously—that is, humorlessly.

Another writer-director, the actress Nia Vardalos, studied Hollywood’s methods for making comedy of authentic relationship complexities—as in her agreeable films My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Connie and Carla and her new I Hate Valentine’s Day. As Genevieve, a single woman who’s worked out the dating dilemma to avoid heartbreak (limiting men to five dates), she tries managing her insecurities.This may seem familiar (and the film sure plays like TV sitcom), but Vardalos’ obvious conventions are used with feeling. Love, confidence and friendship become pertinent to the supporting characters—including the two gay guys Genevieve employs in her flower shop.

Vardalos plays cupid like a sitcom Jacques Demy; her emotional generosity is uncommon in today’s movies. Genevieve’s gay pals, nicknamed Oops and Uh-oh (Stephen Guarino and Amir Arison), pro vide a humane breadth missing from Humpday’s pseudo-sophisticated homosexual panic. And the reasons behind Genevieve’s love-caution speak to deeper female concerns than Humpday’s pissedoff wife (Alycia Delmore) who responds to her immature husband’s porn plans: “There are other sides to me not fed by this [marriage].”

Humpday typifies the low-level indie film where characters talk out silly ideas they don’t believe in anyway, just the pop confusion in their heads.There’s a mumblecore drabness in characters trying to avoid their own banality. Actors Mark Duplass and Joshua Leonard play loud/quiet BFFs well enough (including a convincing marijuana high), yet their lack of charisma is not a virtue.Vardalos’ cast, however, draws you into their emotions. Her only error is not letting co-star John Corbett use his own good singing voice when serenading Genevieve; embracing Demyesque movie-musical convention would have transcended rom-com banality.

Indie filmmakers should not underestimate a sense of showbiz. Humpday’s ridiculous premise of “Two straight dudes bonin’” just sucks—especially after the wit of Jimmy Kimmel’s popular skit, “I’m Fuckin’ Ben Affleck.” It’s way late for a quasi-queer movie that doesn’t really test convention. Humpday reflects the inanities of a culture that doesn’t know itself and never saw Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.