In Extremely Unique Dynamic, Leung, Xu and co-director Katherine Dudas have made something truly original: a thoroughly meta movie that isn’t in any way pretentious. It’s fast-paced, frenetic and funny, like the best hour you’ve ever spent on TikTok. It helps that Hudson Yang — who played Eddie in Fresh Off the Boat — keeps showing up, playing an awkward version of his real-life self. (The words “CELEBRITY CAMEO” flash onscreen each time he appears.)
Extremely Unique Dynamic is the kind of movie that film classes could deconstruct, cross-reference and analyze to death. But it’s best left to stand on its own as a story of friends coming to grips with adulthood and new responsibilities. It’s also so well-written that it mostly feels unscripted. That, from the beginning, makes it impossible not to feel in on the joke, and in on the friendship.
By the end, when Danny turns to Ryan and announces “Your real name is Harrison,” you’ll feel like you’re friends with Leung and Xu too.
‘Extremely Unique Dynamic’ screens at the 4 Star Theater in San Francisco on Wednesday, Jan. 29 at 7:30 p.m. Details here. It begins streaming on demand the same day.