Jump to the good stuff: The Story | Some Thoughts | The Final Verdict
The Story:
Shared Rooms is a series of three interrelated stories about gay men finding love and family during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
The first story is about Lazlo (Christopher Grant Pearson) and Cal (Alec Manley Wilson), a married couple who do not want children. But that changes when Cal’s nephew arrives unannounced at their door with no place to go.
The second story involves Julian (Daniel Lipshutz) and Dylan (Robert Werner), two friends who share an apartment. Dylan often travels for work and is unaware that Julian rents out his room while he’s away. When Dylan comes home unexpectedly because his holiday job was canceled at the last minute, he discovers a stranger in his room. The truth comes out, and Julian and Dylan are forced to share a bed.
The final story is about a Christmas hookup. Sid (Justin Xavier) and Gray (Alex Neil Miller) get together for a day of steamy sex only to discover they have more in common than they expected.
All three stories are intertwined and culminate with a party where they all come together.
Some Thoughts:
Shared Rooms doesn’t shy away from nudity or sex, which gives the film a sexiness that romantic comedies deserve. Also, the situations the characters find themselves in are believable. However, the script needs work, as does the plotting. The interactions between the characters are realistic, but the dialog isn’t. It also doesn’t help that the acting is horrible.
I understand that Shared Rooms is a labor of love made on a shoestring budget, so poor acting can be forgiven. What can’t be overlooked is the script. The lines are so bad that even the most seasoned actor would have trouble delivering them. It also doesn’t help that there is no character development.
The stories are very complex, but they’re glossed over. Lazlo and Cal never wanted a child, but they quickly take in Cal’s nephew, Zeke (Ryan Weldon), with little to no difficulty. Sid and Gray hook up on Christmas and fall in love, but we never get to know anything about them other than their professions, they’re both nudists, and that one believes in God while the other doesn’t. And the roommates who are secretly in love with each other have a night of awkward fun before their story gets resolved.
Shared Rooms is only one hour and fifteen minutes long but feels like twice that. The end is supposed to be one big party, but the only celebration is the end of the movie.
The Final Verdict:
Shared Rooms is a film with three poorly conceived stories that are supposed to be full of life and emotion. Instead, they’re empty and shallow.
