The film titled “Stress Positions” is the first feature for writer, director, and co-star Theda Hammel but don’t be deterred the film is about to embark on the site registration and calling process so you take heart. The movie makes no sense. It doesn’t morph into one of those things where we have to talk about our movies, stand-up, or even remotely make sense et all. ‘Stress Positions’ also lunge back into the very first weeks of the global pandemic scenario and many may reconsider their notions of how a funny movie can shape up. or the reason for going out into the hypothetical world itself. Characters with no moral or societal significance are embroiled in drunken altercations and are narcissistic to the core in Theda’s film. Amusing! Hilarious! Good films! These are definitely not films about ironic art. However, as strategies go, this one is indeed chance I suppose. Some of the audiences visualize making a hilarious parody where they can mock the universe and how sad it isn’t. It does not ruin the movie but however if you are delicate, it will be disturbing to watch these types of movies as Rogue One.
The film which takes us back to the spring and summer of 2020 touches on Terry (John Early), a man who has the hope to stay in a brownstone located somewhere in Brooklyn, the property of his ex-husband Leo (John Roberts) together with Bahlul (Qaher Harhash), the 19-year old Moroccan nephew who is a male model and has been injured after breaking his leg in a scooter accident. Bahlul is considering taking a more active role in protecting himself and Bahlul from the possible threats to their safety and the well-being of the outsiders, as he deems it ridiculous to an extreme degree. Bahlul even has the audacity to turn every object inside of the apartment into a natural disinfectant and then to remove the majority of traces containing the violent and emcees background of the Brownlow’s husband’s lavish dwellings. He puts further, even more of a stretch, attempts to assiduously discourage potential guests from coming over with excuses of too much injury to the host. In lieu of that, he allows Jerry the red baseball cap, and the Grub Hub delivery guy to manifest themselves.
Of course, the gossip about Terry having a mysterious and good-looking male model hiding in his house is bound to pique the interest of others around him. Before long, his good but probably single friend, a trans lesbian called Karla (Hammel), arrives to meet the new stranger and have a break from her wife Vanessa (Amy Zimmer), who is an author working on her second book after basing the first one on the life of Karla. While Terry grows more desperate openly paranoid, and even hurt when stepping on raw chicken, Karla is doing her utmost to make friends with Bahlul and help him with his search for self. Things get out of hand for each of them because they can no longer do their assigned tasks when Leo shows up with his official fiancé and the others who are also intrigued by Terry’s guest.
Some of the earlier times are a bit hilarious since Hammel starts off quite goofy. Terry’s eagerness to bash pots and pans in order to show support to the people at the epicenter, without pausing from his ever-lasting rants, is particularly funny. It was interesting for me to see how the people surrounding Terry attempt to win favor from Bahlul by making gestures that only serve to highlight their narrow and sometimes racially prejudiced views. Karla claims to have Middle-Eastern roots and is unconvincingly over-confident, Vanessa screams about being raised by people with “blonde” hair. Despite being exasperated with the evils and intolerance of anything American (in Terry’s instance one is supposed to make sense in light of his conservative leanings shortly after 9/11), everyone seems blissfully unaware of whether Morocco is an Arabic country or a Middle Eastern one.
This is amusing to an extent, but the trouble with “Stress Positions” is simply that this point is reached about halfway through the film. The remaining runtime that is left gets packed with far too many plot elements, surrounding characters, and a constant reiteration of punchlines; hence Hammel pretty much transforms the whole thing into a revival of a failed Blake Edwards-style script which was supposed to be funny.
One more problem is the unavoidable one that every character somehow looks best in outdoing the rest of the members in being self-centered and being generally loathsome, yet, in turn, making them uninteresting. The only one who does not fall into this type is Bahlul one of the most fun and ingeniously warm oh-so-perfectly-timed gags seeing him patiently gives the people clamoring for his focus the impression that they are really not that impressive or interesting. If the film focused more on this and less on the chaotic and more chaotic proceedings of the film, maybe it would have transformed from an advertisement of unpleasing arrogance.
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