Film Review: "Nude Tuesday"

When a comedic film leaves me perplexed, I consider that an accomplishment. “Nude Tuesday” was a film that had flown under my radar going into it. The story follows a suburban couple (Damon Herriman and Jackie van Beek), who go on a new-age retreat in an attempt to save their marriage. Led by an enigmatic leader (Jemaine Clement) they go on a journey in the hope to reconcile. The catch is that all of the dialogue of the film is spoken in an entirely made-up gibberish language. It’s a very clever idea that works primarily due to our three lead performances.

Herriman and van Beek are game for the film's more bizarre moments and deliver. Their chemistry as a disgruntled couple definitely feels real and sets them up perfectly for zany hijinks. Especially when they cross paths with the characters in the new-age retreat led by Jemaine Clement. When these characters are able to riff with one another, it’s quite funny and enjoyable. Particularly when van Beek and Herriman are trying to integrate into this group, the laughs stayed consistent. What makes things rather unfortunate is that the gibberish speak is the only joke in the film.

It’s admittedly a very funny joke for a while but loses its steam in the screenplay. Director Armagan Ballantyne and van Beek’s screenplay falls into several clichéd and familiar beats. We’ve seen so many movies where a couple is on the “brink of separating” that I felt bored. The story just never quite seemed to break outside the typical “dramedy” conventions. There are plenty of great laughs with van Beek and Herriman navigating this retreat. The moments with the other retreat members were highlights of the film for me. It wasn’t until the third act that we begin to see why clichéd things happened.

To avoid spoilers, I won’t go into detail about how the story wraps itself up. What can be said is that these characters' destination is unexpected. It’s an example of the saying “the journey is better than the destination,” but flipped on its head. It caught me off guard when the setup was leading me to expect a very safe result. This ending certainly doesn’t break new narrative ground but was a nice surprise. The problem is that it made me pine for what the overarching story could have been. Saying this is by no means to discredit the talented ensemble leading us through the zaniness. 

Herriman and van Beek have a perfect balance between sincere and absolutely prickly chemistry. Their relationship from the first scene feels consistently authentic even as they sift through clichés. Anytime they're on-screen together, they feel like real and fully rounded characters, even when speaking gibberish. It makes the overarching story all the more frustrating because these characters remain quite unlikable on their own. Especially when certain decisions made me lose any sort of compassion for them. What made the sequences mildly enjoyable was the performance of Jemaine Clement. 

Clement as the enigmatic retreat leader had me from his very first introduction. As a performer, he is someone who’s always willing to complete broad comedic acts. The screenplay calls on him for quite a bit, which he’s game for. This even includes line deliveries that in anyone else's hands would fall flat. He’s committed to the character and makes the most of a ridiculous character. It’s the sort of performance that amplifies those around him, which is what the movies desperately needed.

“Nude Tuesday” is one of the more interesting comedies floating around right now. It’s a story that is very much committed to its bit (the gibberish). The over-commitment makes the story feel incredibly tame in comparison. With the performers assembled, there are certainly enough laughs to help split the difference.  That, on top of its 90-minute running time, helps to make things quite watchable. The problem is that it's quite difficult to shake the feeling that the story doesn’t reach its potential. What can be admired is that a relatively fresh idea was injected into a familiar narrative. Once the credits rolled I was quite excited to see what these writers and filmmakers could do next.