‘Humpday’

In “Humpday,” a man in his early thirties 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.

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.

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?

How do things work out? 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 their characters’ souls.

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.