Another COVID-19 film? Yes, Theda Hammel makes her feature film directorial debut in Stress Positions. The film is a queer story that is set in the early days of the pandemic during the hot summer of 2020 in Brooklyn, New York. Terry Goon (John Early) is taking care of his half-Moroccan 19-year-old nephew Bahlul (Qaher Harhash) who is a model and suffering from a broken leg injury from a scooter accident. The two quarantine together in Leo’s home (John Roberts) who is Terry’s wealthy ex-husband. This all causes Bahlul to get a lot of attention in Terry’s life as they all figure out how to socialize.
The film had it’s major premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and was part of the U.S. Dramatic Competition. Hammel directed the film and wrote the music. She edited (along with Erin Dewitt) the film as she puts a lot of heart and soul into the project. It all comes off as an obnoxious wanna-be satire that is not entertaining or even funny. As difficult as it was during the pandemic, how many films are audiences going to repeatedly see COVID-19 and pandemic films while filmmakers try to find creative ways to share them? This film is unfortunately not different and brings nothing new to the table.
John Early is easily the best aspect of the film whose character is going through crisis living in his ex-husband’s house and does not have anything going for him. Audiences best know Early from starring in the comedy series, Search Party as Elliot Gross. His character in Stress Positions comes off as frantic as almost everyone was during the most chaotic time in the world. He even wears a gas mask when he does not know if he had gotten in contact with the virus. There is a scene that shows him wearing the gas mask and disinfecting money as he gives the money to the Grubhub delivery guy, Ronald (Faheem Ali who also co-wrote the film). Given how funny Early can be or the fact that Hammel wants to make this a screwball comedy, nothing is actually compelling.
There are a lot of supporting characters and most of them are annoying and self-centered as they all complain for sympathy. It even came to the point that it was difficult to connect with any of them. None of the characters can seem to figure out if Morocco is part of the Middle East or not. That joke become tiring after a while. Even the film’s subplot is not interesting that follows Terry’s friend Karla (Hammel). There are too many aspects of the story going on, it even beings to drag. There are times that it feels like a play given how everything is set and stagged and maybe it would have been better as a play.
Nothing stands out about how the film was put together even the unfocused editing. In the end the film’s journey did not feel earned not even the film’s messaging. No doubt there is potential from a talent like Hammel, but this film does not exactly make a lasting impact.
I give this film a three out of ten.
