Friends, Football and Fun

Almost everyone who has ever been in a modern-art museum has had the experience of staring at some concoction — blobs of color, a mash-up of metals — and thinking the cliché: “But is it art?” Something similar might occur to viewers of “Turkey Bowl,” a quirky offering by Kyle Smith that does nothing more or less than show a touch-football game among friends. “It’s sort of interesting,” you might find yourself saying, “but is it a film?”

Eight friends — six men, two women — who look to be a few years out of college gather on a ragged field to play their annual game of touch football, with a frozen turkey as the traditional prize. Two strangers who happen to be in the park are recruited to join them. And then Mr. Smith basically shows us the game, in real time. And then the movie ends.

There are a few bursts of predictable tension as some players take the contest too seriously and a few hints of strain in the friends’ relationships, but nothing is fleshed out or brought to a climactic confrontation. It’s as if you took any “Big Chill”-style reunion movie and stripped out all the revelations and life lessons. If “Turkey Bowl” doesn’t meet your definition of a film, it’s at least short enough (barely an hour) to make for sometimes enjoyable spectating.

TURKEY BOWL

Opens on Friday in Brooklyn.

Written and directed by Kyle Smith; director of photography, Jeff Powers; edited by Brian Wessel; produced by Mr. Smith and Stephen Paratore; released by Tribeca Film. At the reRun Gastropub Theater, 147 Front Street, Dumbo, Brooklyn. Running time: 1 hour 4 minutes. This film is not rated.

WITH: Morgan Beck (Morgan), Adam Benic (Adam), Kerry Bishé (Kerry), Troy Buchanan (Troy), Zeke Hawkins (Zeke), Tom DeMenna (Tom), Zoe Perry (Zoe), Jon Schmidt (Jon), Bob Turton (Bob) and Sergio Villarreal (Sergio).