I once had a conversation with a female friend about whether it was okay to call one's girlfriend "dude" occasionally. My point was that "dude" was a term of endearment and spontaneity, and that when a guy called a girl "dude," it was a sign of his comfort level with her. Her only response was that calling your girlfriend "dude" was a stupid thing to do.
     That friend is not the director or writer of The Puffy Chair, but I wouldn't have been surprised if she were. The word "dude" has never been used onscreen as pointedly — or, frankly, as often — as it is in Jay Duplass's hilarious chronicle of slacker angst. The story is disarmingly simple: onetime aspiring musician Josh (co-writer Mark Duplass) is now an aspiring promoter. He and his girlfriend, Emily (Kathryn Aselton, in a bewitchingly tender performance), travel down the Eastern seaboard to Atlanta, stopping to pick up Josh's brother Rhett (Rhett Wilkins) and, more importantly, a puffy reddish La-Z-Boy Josh bought online. It's the same one his father was fond of back in the day, and he hopes to give it to the old man for his birthday. ...read more

I once had a conversation with a female friend about whether it was okay to call one's girlfriend "dude" occasionally. My point was that "dude" was a term of endearment and spontaneity, and that when a guy called a girl "dude," it was a sign of his comfort level with her. Her only response was that calling your girlfriend "dude" was a stupid thing to do.
     That friend is not the director or writer of The Puffy Chair, but I wouldn't have been surprised if she were. The word "dude" has never been used onscreen as pointedly — or, frankly, as often — as it is in Jay Duplass's hilarious chronicle of slacker angst. The story is disarmingly simple: onetime aspiring musician Josh (co-writer Mark Duplass) is now an aspiring promoter. He and his girlfriend, Emily (Kathryn Aselton, in a bewitchingly tender performance), travel down the Eastern seaboard to Atlanta, stopping to pick up Josh's brother Rhett (Rhett Wilkins) and, more importantly, a puffy reddish La-Z-Boy Josh bought online. It's the same one his father was fond of back in the day, and he hopes to give it to the old man for his birthday.
     That nostalgic chair is a potent — albeit a bit obvious — symbol for our lead character's desire to remain firmly in the past. Both brothers are stuck in perpetual cycles of adolescence. Josh is a classic underachiever, incapable of planning anything. He uses his "whatever" attitude to mask his profound confusion, and his casual regard for Emily (this is where all those "dudes" come in) hides his deep fear of commitment. Rhett, on the other hand, is a doofus of a completely different sort. He has checked out into a bizarre New Age reverie — he sits around in bushes filming bugs, talks about "bad energy," and follows his instincts to spontaneously marry a girl he sees in a movie theater, only to dump her the next day.
     All this setup could have made for an insufferable quirkfest, but the Duplass boys turn out to be masters at characterization. As played by Mark Duplass, Josh is a charming con-artist whom you want to see succeed: when the seller of the chair turns out to be a total deadbeat, we fervently hope our boy will find some backbone. Indeed, it might be a bit too easy for audiences to relate to Josh. The more we recognize ourselves in him, the more painful and poignant The Puffy Chair becomes. — Bilge Ebiri click to close