STRESS POSITIONS - Mark Reviews Movies

Stress Positions, Neon

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Review by Mark Dujsik | April 18, 2024

It's tough to tell a story about a group of self-absorbed people without it feeling as if we're not welcome. That's definitely the case with Stress Positions, which is set in New York City during the days of the COVID shelter-in-place orders—although that doesn't stop these characters from continuing and creating drama that revolves entirely around them.

Ignoring that the basics of these characters' self-centeredness and the dynamics of their relationships are off-putting, the movie becomes a narrative jumble and a tonal mess, too. Take our introduction to this insulated world of a group of friends who barely seem capable of tolerating each other. It first comes from Karla, a trans woman played by writer/director Theda Hammel, who offers some vague thoughts about life and the story's background before offering up the basic setup.

Her friend Terry Goon (John Early) is currently living in what was once the friend group's party house, following the guy's divorce from his husband. He has been trying to get his life in order for once, after coasting on marrying a wealthy man, but Terry can't and/or won't. The pandemic has put a stop to a lot of things, especially since Terry is extremely cautious about being exposed to the virus (He sprays everything with disinfectant and has full-blown gas masks for occasions of being around people he doesn't know or trust, but the movie isn't even consistent with that defining characteristic eventually).

Putting a bigger gap between the friends, which also includes Karla's girlfriend Vanessa (Amy Zimmer), is the unexpected arrival of Terry's nephew Bahlul (Qaher Harhash), who came to the city from New Jersey, as well as has absent father's homeland of Morrocco, and is currently laid-up with a cast on his leg. Terry doesn't want anyone to even meet his sister's son, because Bahlul is an aspiring model and looks like one, and he's apparently worried what will happen between the people he knows and a good-looking young man if they have any interaction. Instead, the rumors are flying that Terry might want Bahlul all to himself—an accusation he meets with outrage.

None of this is especially compelling or entirely rational, and below the surface level of the story, maybe that's the whole point. Most of this plot, after all, verges on the territory of a screwball comedy, as Terry tries to hide Bahlul, even as friends and neighbors and complete strangers keep showing up despite his protests. Karla is desperate to meet the model, mainly because of the secrecy, and Terry's ex-husband Leo (John Roberts), who moved on from their relationship even when it was still a thing, calls up, curious and maybe a little jealous about his ex allegedly finding a younger partner.

Eventually, all of that curiosity comes to a head at a Fourth of July party that keeps increasing in attendance, much to Terry's shock and terror. Before some solid notion of a comedic setup arrives, though, the movie mainly ambles around and rambles about its main characters. Karla's narration, for example, disappears, and Bahlul takes over to explain his mother's past, as a rebellious youth who travels the world and ultimately becomes quite religious, and how his upbringing brought him to New York, as well as why Terry is estranged from his sister.

Basically, it's a string of back stories layered atop each other, and apart from the massive imbalance in perspective, the constant back-and-forth stalls any momentum from building. That's death for a comedy, which this clearly attempts to be. We can tell from Karla's flirtations with both Bahlul and a delivery guy (played by Faheem Ali) who conveniently keeps being assigned to bring food to Terry's house and Vanessa's apartment. The other major sign is how Terry twice slips on food in the kitchen, leading him to mess up his back and use a massage gun. The massager ends up in a rather unanticipated place during the party, by the way, in a gag that feels as if it comes out of nowhere, considering how flat the action rising to it is.

The problem, then, is a decided lack of focus, combined with confused intentions of what the movie is trying to say and, more importantly, how it's trying to say it. Like its characters, Stress Positions is self-serious in a way that keeps it at a distance, and that sense overwhelms any attempt at making us laugh with or at these characters.

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