Love & Air Sex (formerly riddled with the far more generic title The Bounceback) is an uncanny romantic comedy, one that grows on you like a lazy weekend with people that, in retrospect, you might be appalled by, unless they were your pals. Strange, yes, but work with me here. Stan (Michael Stahl-David) is a struggling actor who moves out to LA right around the time his ex, Cathy (Ashley Bell) moves to New York to start medical school. Both hail from Austin, the 11th largest city by population in the US, yet somehow it’s got that small town vibe. Then again these characters seem to restrict themselves to hanging out between South Congress and the UT Campus. If Love & Air Sex gets anything right, it’s the atmosphere.
While in Los Angeles, Stan periodically stalks the Facebook wall of his ex’s best friend Kara (Sara Paxton) and discovers Cathy is flying back to Austin this weekend, and thus his potential bounce back is set in motion. Stopped at the airport by Kara, recently broken up with Stan’s pal Jeff (Zach Cregger), he’s told directly what bars she’s won in the “divorce.”
Taking a nod from the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz and its legendary “Austin Air Sex” competition, Jeff and his roommates are part of an air sex championship team and ready to defend their honor. After an obnoxious practice session they set out and Jeff rocks the house, texting the video to Kara. Kara and Cathy are also out, likely on the classier end of 6th, mixing it up on their own kind of bounceback.
Here’s where the film starts to gel and its risky structure becomes apparent; a little deeper than the douche-bro comedy of last weekend’s That Awkward Moment, this film actually contains some farce that builds towards a truly hilarious awkward moment or two. Stan, for setting this whole story in motion, is actually the least interesting character, with Paxton stealing the show as the pitch perfect (and sometimes cringe-inducing realistic) Kara, a hipster of little ambition for now–she’ll likely have it figured out by her 35th birthday.
The supporting cast includes a few detours that are pleasant enough without truly adding up, yet as far as situation comedies go, you could do worse. Director and co-writer Bryan Poyser has practically made an advertisement for life in a city affectionately known as Slackerwood. I smiled an awful lot amongst its raunchy and subversive moments, which edge towards romantic and douche-bro comedy, but backs away with humor that is honest and, at times, disturbing realistic. Love & Air Sex is imperfect and occasionally cringe-worthy for both the right and wrong reasons, but this is an odd, funny little movie, and it immediately makes me interested in what Poyser will do next.
Love & Air Sex is currently on VOD and will be released theatrically in New York on February 7th, Austin on February 14th, and nationwide through February and March. See more details on the official site.