| The Puffy Chair | |
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Running time | 85 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15,000[2] |
| Box office | $194,523[3] |
The Puffy Chair is a 2005 Americanmumblecore[4]road film written and directed byJay andMark Duplass. It starsMark Duplass,Katie Aselton and Rhett Wilkins. The film had its world premiere at theSundance Film Festival in January 2005, and went on to screen atSouth by Southwest in March 2005, winning the Audience Award. The film was released on June 2, 2006, byNetflix andRoadside Attractions.[5]
The film concerns the relationships between men, women, brothers, mothers, fathers, and friends. The protagonist discovers oneBay a replica of a lounge chair that was used by his father long ago. The resulting road trip to pick up and deliver the chair as a birthday present for the father inAtlanta takes interesting twists.
The film was made for $15,000, money borrowed from the Duplass's parents.[6] All of the film's actors were paid $100 a day, with extensiveimprovisation used.[7][8] It was lensed withPanasonic AG-DVX100.[9]
The scenes set in North Carolina were actually filmed in the small town ofMilbridge, Maine, hometown of Katie Aselton; in fact, the filmmakers stayed with Aselton's parents during production.
The film had its world premiere at theSundance Film Festival in January 2005.[10] Shortly after,Netflix andRoadside Attractions acquired distribution rights to the film.[11] The film went onto screen atSouth by Southwest on March 11, 2005.[12] The film won the Audience Award at the festival.[13] The film was released in alimited release on June 2, 2006.[14]
The Puffy Chair received positive reviews from film critics. It holds a 77% approval rating on review aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, based on 52 reviews, with an average rating of 6.78/10. The critical consensus reads: "First-timer Duplass offers a realistic and thoughtful romantic comedy."[15] OnMetacritic, the film holds a rating of 73 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating "Generally favorable reviews".[16]
Scott Founders ofVariety gave the film a positive review writing : "The delicate art of reupholstery, as it applies to furniture and human relationships, gives weight to the comic machinations of “The Puffy Chair,” the smart and painfully funny debut feature by filmmaker brothers Jay and Mark Duplass. [It] is an unusually human comedy of manners that, even when it falters, feels like a breath of fresh air pumped into an asphyxiating genre. Warm Sundance reception suggests dirt-cheap pic could develop a strong word-of-mouth following, particularly among college auds(sic)."[17] Nick Schager ofSlantMagazine.com gave the film 2.5/4 writing : "the film never quite strikes a comfortable or graceful balance between silliness and solemnity, so that when the informal story eventually transforms into a sobering portrait of a crumbling relationship, the effect—compounded by the often-unlikable self-involvement of its characters—is more off-putting than appealing."[18]