badhabitslounge By all accounts, most reviewers liked this film. I did not find the male characters likable. I did not find the story likable. I did not find the production likable. I did find this film a total waste of time.

Steve Pulaski The Puffy Chair is often considered to be one of the pioneering films for the mumblecore genre, a style which is often associated with no name actors and a relatively quiet script. To me, mumblecore is a naturalistic approach to topics that could've been taken with unnecessary comedy or a stereotypical, kidding approach, but since they are handled on a modest budget, they are usually taken with admirable gratitude and soul.The Puffy Chair, released in 2005, is a unique picture for the time, but unfortunately an unsatisfying one. It revolves around Josh (Mark Duplass, whose brother, Jay, directed the film), a twentysomething who plans to travel across the country to deliver his father a fluffy, purple reclining chair that he has longed for. He takes the trip with his needy girlfriend, Emily (Katie Aselton) and his impulsive best friend, Rhett (Rhett Wilkins), and along the way, the picture decides to explore the trio's relationship with each other, along with Josh and his parents, and many others.For the first twenty-five minutes or so, the film is poignant, natural, and keenly avoids being indulgent to this idea of mumblecore that it seemingly erected from thin air. But for a directorial debut by the Duplass brothers (Jay serves as the main director, while his brother, Mark is uncredited), you more or less remain optimistic for what their future might hold rather than this picture.To begin with, the characters are rather stale and just tired archetypes. The main character Josh is moderately likable, his girlfriend is very overbearing, and is best friend leaves the viewer very unsympathetic. One of the biggest challenges for this style of film is that you must make everything unassuming and subtle, yet you need to provide the viewer with enough charisma and likability so they can invest valuable emotions through the characters. From someone who has seen three of the brothers' latest efforts, Cyrus, The Do-Deca-Pentathlon, and Jeff, Who Lives at Home (all of which have received a positive rating from myself), accomplish this goal successfully, while The Puffy Chair struggles to remain buoyant in a sea of difference. After a while, it resembles something of other road films, and that something is much of a muchness.Now, the performances from the cast are capable, the script is marginally pleasing, and the directing, despite the cloying zoom tactic the brothers would continue using in their films up until present day to sort of forcefully shove style in our face, is efficiently done. It's the story and the overall lack of anything to care about that leaves the viewer empty and rather disinterested.Starring: Mark Duplass, Kate Aselton, and Rhett Wilkins. Directed by: Jay Duplass.

geminiredblue Being a fellow indie filmmaker, I often sympathize with the plight of such a diverse bunch. Not to mention, I can't help but feel a mixture of pride and encouragement. Independent filmmakers are willing to go out there and dare to show things that studios are scared to mention. The essence of an indie film is hard to pin down. But perhaps what indie films do best is show us ourselves, without glamour and pizazz! I first heard about THE PUFFY CHAIR six years ago when Ebert reviewed it on his show. From that day forward, I knew I'd have to track it down. Happily, a year later, I found it and then fell in love with it! At its core, the movie is a road trip undertaken by Josh, his girlfriend Emily, and his younger brother Rhett. However, as the movie progresses, tensions mount between the three as they keep encountering setbacks. What's amazing about the film is that all the situations that the trio encounters could happen in real-life, and most likely have happened. From a cinematographer's viewpoint, the Duplass brothers wisely make use of DV cameras and available lighting. It gives the film an overall sense of immediacy. In many ways, it feels like someone's home videos and that may have been what they were going for. I'd highly recommend this to anyone who wants to see what can be done with a small budget, a couple DV cameras, and three talented actors. This makes my Top 10 Best Indie Films!

MisterWhiplash This is a nice little find for anyone looking around through the 'indie' section of the video store (or, for contemporaries, the independent section of Netflix, who actually distributed the film), and it has some nice performances and some nice human comedy. I keep saying 'nice' because sometimes it isn't so nice, so I guess sarcastically I mean it isn't so. There is a lot of good going for the Duplass brothers on their first feature film outing, about Josh (Mark Duplass) going to pick up a puffy red chair that is like he had as a childhood keepsake for his father, along with his girlfriend Emily (Katie Aselton) and along the way picking up his brother Rhett (Rhett Wilkins, simple enough to remember). The two main characters Josh and Emily seem to be fairly complex characters, the operating word 'seem'. They are close and show affection, but Emily is not sure where the relationship is going and neither is Josh, and on the road trip both see that there is friction as to the negativity towards romance Emily feels and how Josh doesn't respond to Emily's feelings. So it's very much about the characters. This is important, and the Duplass' know it, since their camera-work, in the sort of Mumblecore aesthetic if there is one, is to follow the characters based solely on emotion. If there was such a thing as a focus puller, or even a shot list, I really wonder if the Duplass' used them. So, are the characters likable? Did I enjoy going on this adventure with them from New York to Atlanta? Up to a point. Where it started to lose me was when the character Rhett took over for large chunks of the story. It's not that it's not understandable why Josh would put up, or even love, Rhett, since he's known him his whole life. But for the audience, he comes off like he is: a hippy-dippy guy who falls in love on the first night and foolishly gets "married" to a woman he just met, which (thankfully) he ditches the next morning. There's another twist that happens later in the film that is more alarming, and had me yelling at the screen, which is something I usually reserve for movies that fly off the rails. The Puffy Chair ultimately keeps to its low-key ways, but it almost goes into being just annoying itself, not simply about annoying people.You know what you're in for if you've seen something else by or featuring the Duplass' like Humpday or the recent Cyrus, which is akin to Puffy Chair's dealings with love and neuroses and trying to connect with one another with or without the bulls***. The Puffy Chair is a good start, but one can see that there's much growth to be had from its (yes) hipster roots.