A decent idea for an episode of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “The Do-Deca-Pentathlon” falls short as a movie.
Twenty years ago, two teen brothers conducted a 25-sport competition that ended in controversy. Now Mark (Steve Zissis) is married with a son, but a birthday visit from his brother Jeremy (Mark Kelly) revives the bad blood between them, so against the wishes of Mark’s exasperated wife (Jennifer Lafleur), the two of them secretly launch the do-deca-pentathlon 2.0, and rekindle their brotherhood at the same time.
There are some warm and endearing moments, but writer-directors Jay and Mark Duplass, brothers who based the movie on their rivalry, forgot to put in enough laughs for a comedy or high enough stakes for a drama, the wife’s threat to move out over the silliness being hard to believe. Moreover, the grimy mumblecore production values, poor lighting and unshaven ordinary-guy lead actors seem intended to repel the audience. In that they will succeed.