Lynn Shelton Slays ‘Em at Sundance

I’m on vacation with my family in Sedona, Arizona, where everything is covered in a fine red dust and a New Age glaze. This evening, I decided to Google “Humpday,” “Sundance,” and “reviews,” to see how Stranger Genius Lynn Shelton‘s third feature Humpday is landing and holy shit.

Salon:

If there’s an early candidate for Sundance breakout hit, that would be Seattle filmmaker Lynn Shelton’s third feature Humpday, a subtle and intelligent picture that blends dudely comedy and adult relationship drama. It premiered here on Friday afternoon to a packed house that surfed along with every laugh line and every squirm….Shelton moves confidently from Seattle hipster self-satire to moments of profound emotional discovery; her directorial eye, aptitude with actors and impulse for stripped-down storytelling mark her as a major arrival on the independent scene.

The Onion’s AV Club:

Watching Lynn Shelton’s Humpday I felt the thrill of discovery, that glorious sense of uncovering something honest, truthful and genuine….Humpday has the scruffy intimacy of the best mumblecore efforts, a low-key observational sharpness that grounds the film’s nervous laughter in the familiar rhythms of everyday life turned upside down…..Humpday seldom hits a wrong note and the climactic sequence where the two old friends finally confront the reality of having sex to prove an exceedingly fuzzy point neither quite understands is handled with humor, maturity and grace. Humpday was greeted with nervous laughter of the most excruciating, cathartic variety and ultimately applause. Both were richly deserved.

Cinematical:

Humpday feels structured, grounded and extremely focused. It moves and plays like a wandering indie, but it hits its marks and never takes its audience out of the moment. If the opposite of a chick flick would be a dick flick, then I suppose that’s what Humpday would be — a funny, strong, sympathetic dick flick that will bury itself deep within your most intimate areas until it’s won over your heart, your soul and your wicked sense of humor.

Cinemablend:

Every moment of the film rings with truth and honesty, a rare and welcome thing for comedic movies.

C.H.U.D.com:

The details all feel right, and the reality of the world and the characters helps ground the broadness of the central conceit. The movie really gets the minutia of male bonding and the strange inherent sexuality that comes with it, and what’s most amazing is that the writer and director is a woman. Lynn Shelton nails the relationships between men in ways that few filmmakers ever have before.

AMC:

Lynn Shelton’s comedy about two straight best friends who decide to have sex with each other for a low budget gay porn movie, Humpday, reportedly had festivalgoers in stitches, and prompted much discussion of the film’s sexual politics. After the screening, Shelton noted a father of a friend had changed his stance on California’s Proposition 8 after seeing the movie and realizing that homosexuality is not a lifestyle choice.

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Congratulations, Ms. Shelton, I hope you’re enjoying your week of glory and I cannot wait to see your movie.