A Witty Mockumentary Examines ‘Mating Habits’

“The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human,” a mockumentary that charts and analyzes the courtship behavior of two healthy, young Homo sapiens, begins with the disembodied voice of an intellectually advanced extraterrestrial (David Hyde Pierce) informing us that “of all the beings in the universe, none possess the mating ritual as complex as the earthbound human.” How true.

Writer-director Jeff Abugov, whose background is in television sitcoms, got the idea for his feature film debut while watching one of those nature documentaries on the reproduction process of some obscure animal species and listening to the droning narrator describe, in clinical detail, the fine points of seduction and copulation. What might a completely objective observer think of the way humans approach reproduction (or in many cases, the avoidance of reproduction)?

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It’s a novel premise for what would otherwise be a standard boy-meets-girl romantic comedy and the film’s greatest strength is the deadpan narration of Hyde Pierce (whose cadence as the know-it-all alien is similar to that of his fussy “Frasier” character Niles). Abugov’s script too is quite funny and there are several laugh-out-loud scenes, particularly in the movie’s first half, as well as some surprisingly deft insights into the quandaries of finding a mate, or for that matter, a date.

The light tone, however, shifts to being slightly off-putting as the relationship between the Male, a.k.a. Billy (Mackenzie Astin), and the Female, a.k.a. Jenny (Carmen Electra), progresses. After several months of dating (and sleeping together) Jenny begins to yearn for more stability while Billy is content with their level of commitment. It could be funny but perhaps because it’s such familiar territory, in real life and in movies, you find yourself cringing instead of laughing.

And because Astin and Electra are playing archetypes--and Hyde Pierce is carrying the bulk of the comedy load--there is not too much call for heavy-duty acting. It’s the situations that are funny, and as the situations become less funny, so does the movie.

“Mating” is at its best when skewering the sometimes absurd aspects of dating, like the well-intentioned but often ill-advised advice of friends who suddenly become relationship experts, provided they’re discussing someone else’s.

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For example, when Billy’s best friend and co-worker tells him that if he really likes Jenny he should not call her for at least a week, because if he does call right away she might think he likes her, our friendly narrator interrupts to tell us that there is in fact no problem with the transmitting signal; we are hearing the friend’s courting advice correctly even though it doesn’t make sense. It’s a human thing.

Overall, it’s a cute movie, and Astin and Electra are pleasant leads. But a special mention needs to be made of Kurt Bryant, the “stunt and sperm coordinator” (surely a first), and the brave actors who played the spermatozoa (Bobby Burns, Brett Jones, Cole McKay, Anthony Perkins Jr., Dana Reed, Patrick J. Statham, Michael-John Sarna) for some of the film’s funniest segments in which the alien explains the actual process of fertilizing a human ovum. It’s an alien thing.

* MPAA rating: R for strong sexuality and language. Times guidelines: fleeting nudity.

‘The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human’

David Hyde Pierce: Narrator

Mackenzie Astin: The Male (Billy)

Carmen Electra: The Female (Jenny)

Markus Redmond: The Male’s Friend

Lucy Liu: The Female’s Friend

Welb Film Pursuits Ltd. presents a film by Jeff Abugov, distributed by Independent Artists. Director Jeff Abugov. Producer Larry Estes. Screenplay by Jeff Abugov. Cinematographer Michael K. Bucher. Editor Stephen Myers. Costume designer Kristin M. Burke. Music Michel McCarty. Production designer Helen Harwell. Art director Craig Keller. Running time: 1 hours, 30 minutes.

At selected theaters.