Duck Butter Review: Average Lesbian Mumblecore

Duck Butter has a daring premise but the lack of chemistry, distracted script, and forgettable characters leave it unexplored and wasted. 

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that building intimacy in 24 hours is not going to work in reality. But it’s still a novel idea worth exploring in fiction, especially in the age of algorithm-based dating.

Duck Butter was co-written by Alicia Shawkat of Arrested Development fame. She turns in a good performance with Laia Costa. The production design and cinematography add a lived-in world with bright open spaces that these two convincingly inhabit.

While the movie does have a daring premise, the script leaves much to be desired.

Two women skip the formalities of dating in an attempt to stop wasting time in it. The challenges that Naima and Sergio face are either convenient for the plot or silly to liven it up – Naima thrusts herself into the situation out of frustration; some odd character pops out of nowhere, an orgy ends as awkwardly as it tries – and fails – to begin.

There’s the stereotypical realistic/conformist vs. idealistic/Boheme difference in personalities. Naima is convincing enough of a character who’s too smart for her own good. On the other hand, Sergio is conveniently written to be her foil.

All the while the movie doesn’t really explore what this 24-hour intimacy means for these two people other than getting deprived of sleep and having sex every hour. Their supposed pillow talk of naturalistic conversations are pat confessions. The intimate scenes look more like an introduction to how lesbians have sex. The entire treatment feels staged which made the chemistry between the two unconvincing.

Duck Butter has a novel idea. Unfortunately, it can’t hit the open-ended complexities that the Weekend, a similar movie that explores attraction and intimacy constrained by time, was able to poignantly achieve.