3 stars
Bright, breezy and very stylish, Bedrooms and Hallways is an engaging ensemble comedy about a group of trendy 30ish Brits coping with love, sex and, most importantly, relationships. The central focus is sexuality, as two men struggle to understand their attraction to both men and women ... while everyone around them offers plenty of (mostly unhelpful) advice and gets on with their own romantic entanglements.
Leo (McKidd), Darren (Hollander) and Angie (Graham) are best buddies. Leo is a straight-acting unattached gay man; the flamboyant Darren, also gay, is seeing an estate agent (Weaving) who uses his clients' empty homes for illicit trysts; Angie is all helpful advice and sparky personality in her search for the perfect man. Then Leo's coworker Adam (Fulford) invites him to attend one of those chest-beating, soul-baring men's groups, hosted by the theatrical Keith (Callow, in theatrical mode), whose feminist wife Sybil (Walter) hosts a women's group at the same time. But in a moment of honesty, Leo admits that he finds another group member (Purefoy) attractive, starting a chain of events that changes everyone's lives in one way or another. And when Leo's childhood friend Sally (Ehle) shows up, things get even trickier.
There's nothing terribly demanding or insightful here, just a wacky story that verges into farce now and then and draws heavily on the charming presence of the cast members (McKidd and Purefoy are particularly good, especially in their scenes together). The dialogue is full of wit, warmth and silliness, the story moves briskly, and the director shows a creative eye for offbeat visuals with clever cutting and frivolous dream sequences. But the contrived twists start to replace character depth and development. This undercuts the romantic possibilities, removing any emotional involvement and just leaving us laughing instead. Not necessarily a bad thing. But we want more than that sometimes.
[15--adult themes and situations, language] 8.Apr.99
UK release 9.Apr.99
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