Breaking and Entering and Humping: A Chock Full of Laughs Comedy

Jeremy Sless’ Breaking and Entering and Humping is a hilariously elaborate 25-minute comedy of errors that layers one mess atop another until the tower is all but ready to come down in an orgiastic extravaganza of ineptitude and coincidence. You will never see the final loser coming.

When, in the middle of robbing an empty home, Phil (Nick Grace) and Simon (Sless) were taking their many breaks eating and defecating and stealing on top of stealing, they did not account for the Lucianos (Christine Celozzi and Donovan Riley Wolfington) to come back early and make a beeline for the bedroom. Squeezed into the closet in that very same room alive with the sound of a good time, the film takes no homo and makes a deliciously pitch perfect encounter out of it with lighting, editing, and acting. Grace and Sless turn in a masterclass on comic timing and physicality.

The cinematography works with a sense of scale, first to emphasise the emptiness—and therefore abundance of both opportunity and threat—and later for the very practical need to make room for the whole cast. The ensemble cast (and it is quite a number, although that is already a bit of a spoiler) as a whole is impressive. Celozzi gets funnier and more unpredictable as the plot progresses and when she comes across Lindsay Lewis, it reverberates; Wolfington is allowed the chance to demonstrate his dramatic capabilities and he delivers like a compulsive topper.

As more and more people stream in, the silliness acquires new dimensions that still retain coherence, an over the top cake of a surprisingly complementary range of flavours. Or we could compare it to 4d chess, the notion of Seriousness™ echoed in the dark colour palette and shadowy lighting. Which just drops us off at the true comparison: it is 4d chess made of cake.

Breaking and Entering and Humping is one of those comedies that will sustain many repeat viewings before the charm begins to wear. In the meantime, prepare to pay attention and laugh.

Watch Breaking and Entering and Humping Short Film Trailer