28 Hotel Rooms

A memorable film, a visual treat, so skillfully shot, and emotionally real with outstanding performances by two people caught up in doing the wrong thing when unable to resist the pull of forces many of us might succumb to or at least feel.

Matt Ross has built this work around two characters that are flawed and perhaps not adequate in substance for his prodigious talent but what he has created flashes with real insight into what happens when passion and love arise and grow within the confined space outside marital vows. We know from the start that we are on a journey where anything might happen and Ross's management of that wild ride is handled with an impressive intelligence while avoiding the predictable outcomes.

Viewer response could understandably be driven by whether he/she can empathize with the wrong doers or the off screen victims.

I can't wait to see what is next from Mr. Ross.

28 Hotel Rooms is in some ways a formalistic movie -- the structure of the film and its cast are highly unusual and constrained. But rather than feel confining or artificial, this allows an intense focus on the actors and their performances.

These performances are so true, and so devoid of stagey or film-y artifice, that it makes other movies about romance feel false in comparison. There is no "saying the perfect thing at the perfect time" to the seduction between the leads, as there is in so many other movies. Instead, you see charisma that mirrors how charisma really operates among real people.

The same thing with their communication and difficult emotions: they are presented in a loose, real, palpable way, without being dressed up or made to have artificial consequences.

The only false note, for me, was the final scene; I didn't totally buy it.

I'm writing a review because I don't think people should avoid watching it based on the low rating. Yes, the movie is filmed in nothing but hotel rooms and with only two actors BUT there is actually more to it than it sounds. I honestly found myself get a little restless in the beginning but I still was interested in finding out what was going to happen to them. After about 15-20 minutes it picked up for me and I didn't feel the need fast forward it. I've always felt like 95% of people are capable of cheating on the person the love. It just takes the wrong kind of day with the perfect opportunity and BAM! I actually wish I didn't feel like that but I'm almost 43 now and I have felt like that for as long as I can remember. So I can see how they ended up in the mess that they did. Though "the husband" was never in the movie I felt really bad for him, even if he didn't know anything about it.

I would not have chosen this movie but woke up to it in the middle of the night - and was quickly hooked. The characters are wonderful to get to know as they increasingly get to know each other, and delightfully free of self-pity or narcissism. The device they use to go from scene to scene is a black out followed by a new room number which is the scene of their next tryst. That device cleverly moves the action along a continuum of character development and maturing of their relationship without ever bogging down in an overly heavy dialog. Both actors have that kind of cinematic face which is fun to watch and never boring. Best thing I can say about this movie, though, is that it was written, produced, directed, and acted with an intelligence all too rarely found in today's American movies. And not a single car chase, explosion, or blood spattered body! No wonder it wasn't advertised by the studio!

After reading the reviews, I had to watch it again to understand what someone said happened in the movie that I didn't see, but found myself continuing to watch past that point. The first time I watched this movie, I thought it to be a modern tragedy, almost Shakespearean by bringing together bad timing, circumstance and what could've been. As I watched it again I drew more to the emotion that the characters and storyline is trying to draw out of the audience.

If you lack emotional depth, experience, or having ever truly fallen in love, I think you watch this movie and brand it as a cheater movie justified. I think it goes beyond that.

The woman having bloomed much later in life was, for all intensive purposes, lacking in self-esteem and unsure of herself. Which was brilliantly communicated by the director and screen writer. She never knew what she wanted, or what she deserved. She only knew to fit into her roles outside of her hotel room encounters. She couldn't bring to bear the question of what was OK for her to have in her life until it was tragically too late.

The man was vulnerable, to a point. And like all men, didn't know whether to admit frailty in the obvious presence of a blossoming love with the massive risk of being unrequited and therefore exposing himself to the dangers of not having that thick male skin.

Director - I think that the tempo was good, even watching it the second time, it wasn't predictable and didn't force me to want to fast forward. It captured the awkwardness of getting acquainted, brought us to a place where they dropped their guard and even a period of adolescent energy where the characters connected.

Chris and Marin connected in this movie in a way that really made the movie. Periods of just conversation communicated something genuine while keeping true to character. It was almost akin to watching someone's reality.

There were so many times in this movie that you just wanted to tell them what to do, and as each tragic bit of circumstance came to fruition you were emotionally disappointed. That's the point of any movie, to get the audience to relate some how and ask questions and get emotional. And this movie accomplished that for me.