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Bedrooms & Hallways

Bedrooms & Hallways

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Fluffy but funny
Review: Charming little film about a gay man and the crazy world that surrounds him, the film is delightful but doesn't stand too far above the many charming and delightful gay-themed British films that we've seen in the last little while (Get Real, Like It Is), but is probably most notable for being the one that really makes a concerted effort to stretch people's guidelines of what constitutes sexual orientation: the main character finds himself attracted to a straight man in his all-male therapy group, and the straight man actually goes out with him and ends becoming quite enamored in their relationship. The latter guy's girlfriend turns out to be our hero's ex-girlfriend from college, and they in turn find a possible reignition of their young puppy love. While not anything worth writing home about, the film is bright and lively and features a great Jane Austen-themed sadism dream sequence, complete with one of the film's stars Harriet Walker, who you might remember as the evil Fanny in Sense and Sensibility. Her scenes with Simon Callow are among the film's best ("I love being a woman," she says, "Not because of you but because of me.")

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The best gay film of 1998!
Review: While American studios make treacly films like "Love! Valour! Compassion!" and farces like "Jeffrey" whose comedy too often falls flat, the British have been making films like "Bedrooms and Hallways" -- side-splittingly funny, cynical without falling into caustic sarcasm or despair, and ironic only when it has to be (rather than constantly).

Director Rose Troche provides the light hand guiding this thoughtful film, in which gay Leo (Kevin McKidd) -- ready to forsake love because he can't even get a date -- joins a straight men's group only to unwittingly end up seducing the entire group. His best friend, Darren (Tom Hollander), is an over-sexed clubber who trysts with his new realtor boyfriend in various homes for sale.

Julie Graham is somewhat too understated as Leo and Darren's best friend, Angie. James Purefoy is warm, solid and powerfully understated as Leo's new-found "straight" love interest, Brendan. He's the perfect foil for McKidd's slightly too-nervous, too-neurotic Leo. The real standout in the cast is Hollander, who deftly walks the tightrope between obnoxiously queeny and faux-homosexual.

What really makes "Bedrooms and Hallways" work is that the conclusion of the film isn't anything like you'd expect. It avoids all the cliches, twist-endings, and "depressing endings" that most directors and writers would have lazily permitted. It's a sophisticated conclusion that makes you think and feel without leaving the audience unwarrantedly happy or sad.

It's appalling that BBC Films hasn't yet priced this film for sell-through.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Cliched, but still entertaining due to unexpected situations
Review: First fifteen minutes: the sledgehammer was out and the condescension began. Film was saying "all you people out there who have stereotypical notions about gay people...you're WRONG!".

Next half an hour: sledgehammer goes away, but a dreadfully rehashed plotline comes out. Gay man falls for straight guy who -- shut my mouth! -- may be interested in our hero after all. Agenda is out on the table. Can a moratorium be declared on this plotline?

Next 15 minutes: Straight girl (aka "former girlfriend) appears and wants our gay hero. Because straight girls are ALWAYS in love with their gay male friends, didn't you know.

Last half hour: This is where the story took a turn I had not seen before. People who believe a person is either gay or straight may be dissatisfied with the outcome, but I found it to be very true to life (including, but not limited to, mine). Love and friendship can be confusing enough as they are; throw sex into the mix and one inevitably starts questioning one's own assumptions.

Plot machinations aside, the perfomers are genial and it is nice to see films about modern Britain. There are some truly funny moments and everyone feels like a friend. I wound up enjoying this film a lot.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Unexpected Twists and strange effections
Review: Bedrooms and Hallways is an enjoyable and at times witty film that follows the lead ( Leo ) on his quest to find romance, love or a husband of sorts. It has the feel of a sit-com with undertones that hit on issues most of us can understand. It's more like light entertainment with a few fairly heavy moments. The production quality is good and the acting was right on. As a note, the actor that plays a kinky real estate salesman is the same actor that plays Mr. Smith in the Matrix movies and it was fun to see him in the truely twisted roll as a Gay sex monger with strange kinks. He hates cheep house wares. Maybe you have to see it to understand. The movie was good and worth picking up and adding to your collection. Its suggestive but tastefully done and would be OK for mixed crowds.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The best gay film of 1998!
Review: While American studios make treacly films like "Love! Valour! Compassion!" and farces like "Jeffrey" whose comedy too often falls flat, the British have been making films like "Bedrooms and Hallways" -- side-splittingly funny, cynical without falling into caustic sarcasm or despair, and ironic only when it has to be (rather than constantly).

Director Rose Troche provides the light hand guiding this thoughtful film, in which gay Leo (Kevin McKidd) -- ready to forsake love because he can't even get a date -- joins a straight men's group only to unwittingly end up seducing the entire group. His best friend, Darren (Tom Hollander), is an over-sexed clubber who trysts with his new realtor boyfriend in various homes for sale.

Julie Graham is somewhat too understated as Leo and Darren's best friend, Angie. James Purefoy is warm, solid and powerfully understated as Leo's new-found "straight" love interest, Brendan. He's the perfect foil for McKidd's slightly too-nervous, too-neurotic Leo. The real standout in the cast is Hollander, who deftly walks the tightrope between obnoxiously queeny and faux-homosexual.

What really makes "Bedrooms and Hallways" work is that the conclusion of the film isn't anything like you'd expect. It avoids all the cliches, twist-endings, and "depressing endings" that most directors and writers would have lazily permitted. It's a sophisticated conclusion that makes you think and feel without leaving the audience unwarrantedly happy or sad.

It's appalling that BBC Films hasn't yet priced this film for sell-through.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Life's a soap!
Review: Bedrooms and Hallways is the kind of film that makes you realize that the drama of life is hidden in the details. And that drama can be great fun too! Even though your own love life and your own friends may not be as unique as the characters in this movie, every one is bound to recognize themselves and others in the colorful protagonists of this film. And that's the great strength of Bedrooms and Hallways, that the irony of life is that the most confusing things that happen to you can be the most interesting/hilarious/funny/sexy/...things too! Hope you'll enjoy the film as much as I have!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: British Sex Farce With a Few Twists
Review: I first saw this film at a gay and lesbian film festival. I and my date laughed so hard, that she wet herself, and I choked on my soda. The characters are remarkably 3-dimensional, a thing which is so very hard to achieve in a farce. Their explorations into their own self-concepts, and views of gender, sexuality, and nationality, are both hysterical and poignant. This is a movie that can be enjoyed by everyone. The characters are gay, straight, and in-between; married and single; insightful and downright insane! From " S&M o-grams ", to "primitive man weekends," and back round again to mutual adultery and real estate agent sex addicts who use other people's houses for their trysts, this film has it all. It's intelligent but not overly intellectual, sexy but tastefull, and has a plot twist that leaves both the gay and straight audiences feeling that they've seen something unique. 5 stars!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Flippant but entertaining
Review: I thought this film was entertaining, yet it came up short in the end. The lack of emotional consequence to the characters' sexual exploration ended my suspension of disbelief. Likewise, the obviously gay authorship seems to override the true characters' voices: two of the five members of the men's group suddenly find themselves gay with the sudden admission of a gay member? "Bedrooms," while always likeable, turns out to be lightweight and, strangely, cliched in the same way that "Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss" is -- namely, that sexual experimentation is without emotional repercussions and that being gay is somehow infectious to straight men.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A funny romance-and yet I like it.
Review: It is not often that a romance comes along that I actually enjoy.
This film is exceptionally witty and fun. Tom Hollander and Hugo Weaving both manage to make their 'bigger than life' characters into something real. "Romance" might be a bit of an assumptive label for the film. It is also about coming of age; making important decisions that will stay with you the rest of your life. The homosexual environment the characters are a part of is casual and real, which makes for a non-insulting view of gay lifestyle.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Anything goes
Review: Male bonding takes on a whole new meaning in the British sex comedy.

Rose Troche (Go Fish) directed this quirky story of a Impish Darren (Tom Hollander) who urges lonely Leo (Kevin McKidd of Trainspotting) to get a more active social life, as does neighbor Angie (Julie Graham).

When straight friend Adam (Christopher Fulford) gets Leo to join the therapy group run by New Age-styled guru Keith (Simon Callow), he finds that his homosexuality creates some interesting complications.

There's a healthy dose of new age parody here: the members of the men's group take saunas together, beat drums around the campfire at their "wild man" weekends, and pass around harpoons and "honesty stones" to get in touch with their feelings. It all leads to some frank sexual discussions and an atmosphere of shifting sexuality in which a fistfight can turn out to be a prelude to having sex.

Leo meets good-looking Irishman Brendan (James Purefoy of "A Knight's Tale"),who's just ending a lengthy relationship with his business partner, Sally (Jennifer Ehle). Sally just happens to be Leo's high-school sweetheart. It's not long before Leo and Brendan pair off.

Add some kitschy dream sequences to the film's lighthearted tone, and the development of an unusual bisexual love triangle that provide serious romantic tension. By the end of the film, the characters' real sexual preferences are anybody's guess.


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