#140RVW
Good but limited story isn’t as fun or as funny as I hoped it would be, or as it looked to be. Good stuff here, but uncomfortable to watch.
What’s more:
The Duplass brothers are really making a name for themselves with their unique and well-executed stories. This one has one of the better premises out there, but its limited in its scope and doesn’t quite live up to the concept.
When they were kids, ultra-competitive brothers Mark & Jeremy staged their own 25-event competition: the Do-Deca-Pentathlon. The contest was tied at 12 events apiece when the deciding event was stopped by their mother, fearing that Mark was in danger. The incomplete challenge has hung over both brothers ever since, ruining their relationship.
The story finds Mark returning with his wife and son to his childhood home for a birthday weekend, including a local race; an event to which the estranged Jeremy has not been invited. When Jeremy crashes the festivities anyway, announcing his arrival in town by literally jumping into the race to try to beat his brother to the finish line, it’s clear that this isn’t going to be the stress-free weekend that Mark’s doctor has advised.
Every activity between these two is a competition, and it’s clearly an unhealthy dynamic for everyone involved. When Jeremy proposes that they finally settle things between them by engaging in the Do-Deca again, it threatens to rip the family apart. It’s really unpleasant to watch, frankly. In the best manner of truth-filled comedies, it really rips open scar tissue and unflinchingly displays real human emotion and interactions in all of their awkward and unlovable glory.
But I must admit that it’s a little more intense than I was expecting. It seems positioned as a slightly offbeat comedy, but it’s really more a family drama with moments of absurdity. It’s really good stuff, just not quite how it was billed. It also suffers a bit from being a one-note song. The idea is great, but it’s the only idea. That shouldn’t really be a problem, since the movie is a startlingly short 76 minutes, but it actually doesn’t quite engage for even that short of a run-time.
It’s not a feel-good summer hit, but The Do-Deca-Pentathlon is a well made picture.
Poster:
Trailer:
Bechdel Test:
Fail
The Representation Test Score: C (4 pts)
(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)
| Main Cast | Mark Kelly Jeremy, Steve Zissis Mark, Jennifer Lafleur Stephanie, Julie Vorus Alice |
| Rating | R |
| Release Date | 2012 |
| Director | Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass |
| Genres | Comedy |
| Plot | Two brothers compete in their own private 25-event Olympics. |
| Poster |  |
| Runtime | 76 |
| Tagline | |
| Writers | Jay Duplass (written by) &, Mark Duplass (written by) |
| Year | 2012 |