25 events. 2 Brothers. 1 Champion. In 1990, two brothers set out to compete in a three day Olympic-like competition to determine who was the better brother and athlete. 20 years later the two are reunited at their mother’s house where tension and hatred still exists between the two over the results of The Do-Deca-Pentathalon. Against the will of his wife, Mark (Steve Zissis) agrees to his brother Jeremy’s (Mark Kelly) proposal of replaying the Do-Deca to determine once and for all who the ultimate champion is. At the risk of leaving their family in turmoil, the two must eventually decide what’s more important, family or kicking the crap out of each other.
The indie duo known as the Duplass Brothers (Mark and Jay) are known for making quirky character dramedies and, more often than not, they end up being pretty good, but Do-Deca feels like the lowest budget, indie looking film that they’ve made to date (though I haven’t seen anything before Cyrus). Much of the film is shot without a tripod and I believe uses natural lighting to give it that almost home video-like feel and it actually works to the film’s advantage due to the nature of the story.
While the film is pretty funny and has that quintessential dramedy feel to it, most of the characters are extremely frustrating to watch and make you want to choke slam them into a pit of concrete. I believe people like the one’s in the film exist but I’m amazed at the extremes they go to in order to be an instigating dick of a brother, a hardcore nagging wife (Jennifer Lafleur) that won’t let her husband have a little fun, or a guy completely obsessed with the past that he’d do anything to wipe the slate clean. I’m pretty sure that some people will hate the film because of how frustrating the characters were, but I personally enjoyed it and thought it made me invest more emotionally in the film and the actual outcome that resulted from all of their issues than if they were slightly saner.
The only real item that bothered me about the two brothers was the fact that they let a competition completely tarnish their relationship for the next 20 years. That seems not only petty but also down right immature for me
n that have grown up. I couldn’t see something like that happening to that extent in the real world.
Even knowing what kind of results this type of competition can have on friends and family, I personally would love entering some sort of Do-Deca like competition with friends. In the film they chose some great activities to compete in like arm wrestling, go-karting, laser tag, swimming and ping pong. The sports and games they choose to play are ones that mostly anyone of any body type could actually participate in despite their age, even if they shouldn’t.
The Do-Deca-Pentathalon may not be as dramatic and emotional as Jeff, Who Lives at Home or Cyrus but it does have an honest feel to it with a touch of charm and a lot of humor that allows anyone with a competitive side to really enjoy it, even if it can be frustrating at times.
Rating: A comedically frustrating tale of intense brotherly competition (6.4/10)
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