Extremely Unique Dynamic
Written and directed by Harrison Xu, Ivan Leung, and Katherine Dudas
Starring Xu, Leung, Hudson Yang, and Nathan Doan
Unrated
Runtime: 1 hour and 13 minutes
Available digitally January 29

by Daniel Pecoraro, Staff Writer

Extremely Unique Dynamic can best be likened to a Werther’s Original or maybe a Creme Saver. One of those hard candies that has a sweet filling in the center as a just reward for getting through the hard candy shell surrounding. That’s not to say that the rest of the candy’s bad, just that the best part is right near the end. Put another way, Extremely Unique Dynamic– co-produced, co-written, co-directed, and co-starring Ivan Leung and Harrison Xu–is a seventy-three-minute film that probably could have ended up a twenty-five or thirty-minute short, a thoughtful but distracted exercise. While billed as “the first ever meta-Asian-stoner-bromantic-coming-of-age dramedy,” the film’s best moments are when it’s sticking to its core elements of masc bonding and friendship, growing up together and then growing apart.

Before we get to those sentimental moments, we have to get through the “meta” aspect of it all. Daniel (Leung) and Ryan (Xu) are lifelong best friends, who have been making films for much of their lives. The film kicks off with MiniDV-recorded home movies–kudos to Lucus Liu (who played young Ryan) and Jason Sun (young Daniel) for meshing performances with Leung and Xu so well–and smash-cuts right into an array of YouTube videos, TikToks, and the like, as Ryan and Daniel search for stardom in LA. We exit the montage to find Ryan and Daniel training for a Hot Ones-style interview neither has landed, wings, milk, probing questions and all. It’s the kickoff to a final weekend together for the duo, with Ryan moving with his fiance Harper (voiced, but never seen, by Kelly Lynch) to Edmonton. As Ryan unpacks the old camcorder they used as kids, an idea emerges: using the last weekend to film a movie about the making of a movie about the making of a movie. 

Film references and self-references abound–I was especially fond of the callbacks to Legally Blonde–as are references to the art and business of moviemaking. Ryan is the more polished of the two, a veteran of film marketing (as is Xu in real life) and “Kill the Dog” screenwriting classes. Daniel is a closeted gay stoner who auditioned for, didn’t get, and completely forgot about Fresh Off the Boat (hence the cameos by Hudson Yang as himself interspersed in the film). But off they go, with Leung as Daniel playing Gregg playing Jasper and Xu as Ryan playing Tim playing Jake, making their movies-within-movies in Daniel’s apartment and across LA. 

There is a certain “I’m gonna be a star!” ambition and the cynicism needed to get there that just put me off. That might be intentional, though I question the motive of a film making its two main characters kind of insufferable and then making them the focus of essentially the entire movie. It is also difficult to see where Xu and Leung’s personal personas end and their characters begin; beyond Xu’s marketing experience getting liberally peppered throughout the script, Leung’s mildly viral rap “Taco Loving Asian Guy” is in heavy use throughout the film. In any event, it’s clear that Ryan has more of that drive. Daniel, meanwhile, is just along for the ride and would rather be hanging out with his friend than turning that time into content–to the point that Ryan nearly kicks his best friend off the project for “Other Dan” (Nathan Doan). This leads to the main frisson at the end of the second and the beginning of the third act, as core elements of trust, friendship, and belonging are brought to bear.

That beating heart of Ryan and Daniel’s relationship–and the void that would be left upon Ryan’s move–brings out the strongest elements of Xu and Leung’s performances. I wish they leaned more into that sentimentality, that sweetness, when making this film. Ultimately, the “meta” element is scrapped from Ryan and Daniel’s project, their final film a document to their platonic love for one another. As a viewer, I wish I could have gotten more of a taste of that movie, and of that tone, than what Extremely Unique Dynamic largely tries to sell.

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