Product Details

• Actors: Kevin McKidd, Hugo Weaving, Simon Callow
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: First Run Features
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004TX0M
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #81,147 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Bedrooms & Hallways" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully comical, August 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Bedrooms & Hallways (DVD)

I just spent a hilarious three hours (well, the film is only 105 minutes, but I kept hitting the reverse button on the remote) watching Bedrooms & Hallways. This film is clever and funny.

Leo and Darren, both gay, search for romance in their own individual ways. Leo is attracted to someone whom he thinks is straight. Darren just has one hell of a good time, often. And life falls apart from there.

The film begins with a surprise party for Leo, at which we meet all the principal characters of the film. Then by means of one long flashback we enjoy what led up to the current state of affairs (of which there are many). The ending is hair-brained and implausible but many of these films usually end absurdly. So, not an issue.

What makes this film so lovably wonderful are the characters. As for Leo, take him or leave him. He is one of those tiresome individuals who obsesses his way out of what could have been a meaningful relationship by insisting on 100% commitment. Oh, yawn. We've seen it a million times, so ignore him. Tom Hollander plays Darren to delicious excess. You may remember him from the "Absolutely Fabulous" episodes, "The Last Shout," in which he almost marries Saffron. Hugo Weaving (Priscilla: Queen of the Desert) plays Jeremy, Darren's love interest. Jeremy is a real estate agent, which gives him access to empty houses in which he and Darren meet to fulfill some eccentric fantasies. But Jeremy has to have the right decor. These two are the joy of this film. Simon Callow, as Keith, oversees a New Age men's therapy group that is hysterical. And James Purefoy is gorgeous as Brendan.

Finally, a gay film in which there is lots of kissing! And it's the good old fashioned open mouth, "I think you're so hot!" variety. The DVD lacks features, but it has a short and enlightening interview with the director, Rose Troche. One point - ignore the cover. It shows Weaving looking lasciviously at Purefoy. Those two have nothing to do with each other in the film. They never even meet. Just another example of marketing ineptitude. But the disk inside is wonderful! Now go buy it, Honey.

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best gay film of 1998!, August 25, 2000

By 

Tim Evanson (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

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.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A complete delight, November 23, 2000

By 

M. J. Walters "dargelos" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Bedrooms & Hallways (DVD)

I had no idea what to expect, and was very pleasantly surprised when I found an intelligent, witty film about real sexuality, not the polarized you're-either-gay-or-straight stuff that everyone else seems to specialize in. The characters aren't perfect; they're stumbling around in the dark just like the rest of us, but they do it with the sort of grace I wish we were all capable of. Simply a film to warm your heart, no matter where you are on the scale. See it. I mean it.