Viral video of men taking advantage of a woman...

... was made by taking advantage of men.

The woman was not befuddled — did you know the original meaning of "befuddled" is drunk? — but the men were befuddled — in the sense of confused. They were (apparently) invited to participate in a little film project, playing a role, not anticipating that it would be presented as documenting street harassment, in the manner of that woman-walking-for-10-hours viral video.

I blogged that walking-for-10-hours thing, but passed on that follow-on drunk-girl fakery. I knew it was fakery, because the acting was bad. It's not easy to act drunk. Here's some classic advice from an actor: "You don't play drunk—you try to act sober. People don't act drunk, people are drunk, and they try to act sober." Great advice, if you can figure out how to follow it. More here:

Only bad actors slur their words, stumble over the furniture and gasp after each swallow of fake hard stuff. Real-life drunks try to disguise their condition — and the best pretend-drunks follow suit.

Everyone has a different take on "playing drunk," says top Dallas theater director René Moreno. "Pacing your drunk acting is key. First drink equals feeling relaxed. Second drink equals mild euphoria. Third drink, hilarity ensues. Fourth, paranoia prevails. Fifth, sixth or more, anything from plain old meanness to self-hatred to weepy-weepy to suicidal. You want your actor to bring as much of his or her own experience to the work but not actually be drunk onstage, though I have had that experience. Yikes."

Trying hard not to seem wobbly is one of the secrets to looking plastered, say actors and directors. Former Dallas actress Julie Osburn studied with the great Uta Hagen, who originated the role of Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on Broadway. "Acting technique 101 is to consider the alcohol tolerance level of the character," Osburn says. "Martha's alcohol tolerance was higher than God's. To perform Martha, the slur might come in her last three lines, but never neglecting her consonants. Drunk acting means paying attention to the consonants."

You might be able to reverse-engineer that for the real-life goal of seeming sober when you really are drunk.  If you try to appear sober, that's what will out you as drunk. This makes me think of the old Yoda quote: "Do. Or do not. There is no try." Be drunk. Or be sober. There is no try.