The Duplass brothers have always been known for their indie
roots. However, over the last few
years they have garnered mainstream success as two of their films have been
distributed by major studios and backed by more elaborate budgets. The
Do-Deca Pentathlon was a film that they shot back before Cyrus, yet they didn't have the time to
edit the footage until now.
The film tells the story of two
brothers who, after many years of the silent treatment, rekindle an old
competition from their youth that pits them against one another in twenty-five
different events. Whoever wins the
most events wins the challenge. It
is really quite simple. And for
the sake of the film, it is actually a little too simple.
While the premise fields promise,
the actual execution proves to be quite bland as the film is horrifically
boring. It is definitely not the
Duplass brothers' finest work by a long shot. It is easy to notice some of their trademark humor, but the
final product doesn't come together well.
The film's biggest fault was not
focusing on the games. Instead,
the sibling writers/directors opted to focus more on the relationship between
the two in-film brothers. A quick
montage doesn't do the segment justice as countless opportunities for comedy
and drama are passed up without a second thought. Throw that in with an unneeded amount of expletives, and The Do-Deca Pentathlon was an
unfortunate misfire by two of Hollywood's more consistent creators.
