diff --git a/src/standard/effectBuilder.html b/src/standard/effectBuilder.html
index 6b1e166a7c..26f5060ddb 100644
--- a/src/standard/effectBuilder.html
+++ b/src/standard/effectBuilder.html
@@ -168,7 +168,8 @@
 
     // method expressions are of the form: `name([arg1, arg2, .... argn])`
     _parseMethod: function(expression) {
-      var m = expression.match(/(\w*)\((.*)\)/);
+      // tries to match valid javascript property names
+      var m = expression.match(/([^\s]+)\((.*)\)/);
       if (m) {
         var sig = { method: m[1], static: true };
         if (m[2].trim()) {
diff --git a/test/unit/bind-elements.html b/test/unit/bind-elements.html
index 6455059839..8c83dc7863 100644
--- a/test/unit/bind-elements.html
+++ b/test/unit/bind-elements.html
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
       custom-event-object-value="{{customEventObject.value::change}}"
       computed-from-mixed-literals='{{computeFromLiterals(3, "foo", bool)}}'
       computed-from-pure-literals='{{computeFromLiterals( 3, "foo")}}'
+      computed-from-tricky-function='{{$computeTrickyFunctionFromLiterals( 3, "foo")}}'
       computed-from-tricky-literals="{{computeFromTrickyLiterals(3, 'tricky\,\'zot\'')}}"
       computed-from-tricky-literals2='{{computeFromTrickyLiterals(3,"tricky\,'zot'" )}}'
       computed-from-no-args="{{computeFromNoArgs( )}}"
@@ -223,6 +224,9 @@
         assert.equal(str, 'foo');
         return num + str;
       },
+      $computeTrickyFunctionFromLiterals: function(num, str) {
+        return this.computeFromLiterals(num, str);
+      },
       computeFromTrickyLiterals: function(a, b) {
         return a + b;
       },
diff --git a/test/unit/bind.html b/test/unit/bind.html
index 95108325f9..f0d0cbb5d2 100644
--- a/test/unit/bind.html
+++ b/test/unit/bind.html
@@ -171,6 +171,7 @@
     el.bool = true;
     assert.equal(el.$.boundChild.computedFromMixedLiterals, '3foo', 'Wrong result from mixed literal arg computation');
     assert.equal(el.$.boundChild.computedFromPureLiterals, '3foo', 'Wrong result from pure literal arg computation');
+    assert.equal(el.$.boundChild.computedFromTrickyFunction, '3foo', 'Wrong result from tricky function with pure literal arg computation');
     assert.equal(el.$.boundChild.computedFromTrickyLiterals, '3tricky,\'zot\'', 'Wrong result from tricky literal arg computation');
     assert.equal(el.$.boundChild.computedFromTrickyLiterals2, '3tricky,\'zot\'', 'Wrong result from tricky literal arg computation');
     assert.equal(el.$.computedContent.textContent, '3tricky,\'zot\'', 'Wrong textContent from tricky literal arg computation');